Member Article

Darlington training facility to open following £500k expansion

A unique apprentice training centre will be officially opened by a town’s MP following a half million pound expansion and redevelopment programme.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman will unveil the newly extended Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA) training facility on Yarm Road Business Park, which provides bespoke work-based learning for young people in the thermal insulation engineering field.

The not-for-profit trade association, formed to represent organisations within the industrial and commercial insulation industry, offers support to its members through high level training providing skilled engineers for key positions within the construction sector.

Qualified thermal insulators specialise in the insulation of hot and cold pipework, ductwork and vessels, working on sites including oil refineries, power stations, chemical plants, ships, offices, factories, hospitals, schools and supermarkets.

TICA chief executive Marion Marsland said: “Since opening TICA House, our National Training Centre in Darlington in 2001, our members have invested over £1m in services and resources.

“This is mainly due to the excellent governance of our Trade Association, but also the highly successful cross collaboration with our associate members supplying the centre with free materials for use in our training workshops and providing lots of additional support to train within our sector.”

The latest £500,000 investment has enabled TICA to:

• add a second story to the existing training suite
• build an extension to the workshop
• creating more floor space for tuition
• develop a new functional skills and ICT suite
• create an open plan office for tutors with complete visibility to the workshop floor
• construct a purpose-built canteen facility and enhanced cloakroom and locker facilities for apprentices attending the centre.

With a membership of over 75 UK-based insulation contracting companies, TICA currently trains between 80 and 120 apprentices each year providing them with a framework of qualifications, including NVQ level 2 and 3, safety passport, functional skills, employment rights and responsibilities and a technical certificate.

They also offer employers the opportunity to up-skill employees with certificates in confined space training, health and safety, working at heights (PASMA) and asbestos awareness.

“We are delighted to be able to welcome Mrs Chapman, representatives from the Construction Industry Training Board and our funding partners at Darlington College to see our new facility,” added Mrs Marsland.

“We now have in Darlington a leading National Training Centre of excellence to develop and train thermal insulation apprentices to the highest standards and a superb track record of results which are the envy of any specialist sub-contracting industry in the UK today.”

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