LCB Awarded First NFRC Centre of Excellence and Trials RoofCERT Courses

IN A NATIONAL FIRST, and championing roofing standards, Leeds College of Building (LCB), Roofing division has been designated as a NFRC Centre of Excellence by the National Federation of Roofing Contractors.

Simon Dixon, NFRC Training Manager and Technical Officer, said: “Leeds College of Building deserves this accolade. Their tutors excel in all they do, gaining the highest standards in the teaching and qualifications they offer to students, as well as achievements such as Skillbuild and the BMI Apprentice of the Year competition.”

First NFRC Centre of Excellence

Speaking of their pride at winning their new status Steve Connell, Assistant faculty Director at LCB, said: “This is the result of years of hard work by the whole team to create the very best training courses and facilities in the country to enable students to develop their skills to become the industry’s next generation workforce.”

The news of this accolade comes just as LCB is set to begin trialling of the roofing specific mandatory course element of the proposed new roofing contractor accreditation scheme, RoofCERT. RoofCERT is a new accreditation scheme being formulated by the NFRC and CITB to raise roofing industry standards, professionally qualify the industry and protect consumers.

“The new RoofCERT scheme is a huge development in UK roofing and LCB are delighted to be part of this innovative development and look forward to delivering RoofCERT’s short courses to the first cohort of roofers,” Steve Connell commented.

The Roofing Workshop at Leeds College of Building

RoofCERT Courses

LCB will be running five courses one day a week from 30 January 2019. The courses will be: Abrasive Wheels, Work at Heigh,t First Aid, Fire Safety, Manual Handling

There are also two e-learning courses on Asbestos Awareness and Non-technical Skills for learners to complete in their own time.

The seven short courses will become a mandatory element of RoofCERT and will form the basic level of competency that will allow successful participants to gain the first level of a RoofCERT accreditation.

The courses are being trialled at LCB by roofers from NFRC member companies, as well as sole trader and micro contractors, to ensure that the standards and delivery of the scheme is optimised before RoofCERT goes live.

Simon Dixon, added, “We want feedback from all sizes of companies as RoofCERT will be open to all roofers in the industry.

“The courses will run one afternoon a week for five weeks at LCB. This will allow us to gauge if the standards are right and if any adjustments are needed.”

Levy-registered employers can already receive CITB funding for some of the existing generic short-duration courses for their roofers, and the NFRC is in discussion with CITB Standards department to also make these roof-specific courses eligible for grants.

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