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Advanced Qualifications:

If you have been feeling unfulfilled in your current career or job position, maybe you have been thinking about a change for a while, but have never got round to actually taking any action.here at Access Training we aim to make it as easy as possible to find and enrol onto your perfect trade training course.

To help make finding your course even easier, we have designed a new course finder feature on our homepage. All you have to do is simply select which trade you are interested in learning and you will be taken to the relevant course page. For instance, if you are interested in beginning a new career as a plumber, click “plumber” on the course finder and it will take you to our “train to become a plumber” page, on which you will find all the courses we have available, along with a detailed description for each course.

At Access Training, we specialise in delivering top quality trade training courses. If you have little to no experience in your chosen trade, then do not worry, or training courses are designed specially to turn the complete novice into an expert in the shortest time possible.

What courses do we offer at Access Training?

Plumber

If you are interested in becoming a professional plumber we can help. For the complete novice, we offer 3 courses all offering varying levels of qualifications. If you would like to be a Domestic Plumber, then our Essential Plumbing Course is perfect for you. You will learn all the fundamental skills and theory that you will need to become a plumber, and upon completion you will be awarded a city and guilds plumbing qualification.

For the more ambitious, we offer more comprehensive plumbing courses, our Professional Plumbing Course where you will learn the basics and work towards your NVQ Level 2 in plumbing and Heating, allowing you to take more advanced work after completion. Finally, our Premier Plumbing Course, which will not only train you as a plumber, but you will also train to be a qualified gas engineer.

Electrical Courses.

Like the plumbing courses above, we offer a range of Electrical courses for all you budding electricians out there. If you are a complete beginner, with little to no knowledge in electrics and would like to learn the basics of electrical work, and gain essential qualifications, then our Essential Electrical course is perfect for you. In this short course you will learn the 17th edition electrical regulations, and Part P Domestic Electrical Installer.

Again, if you would like to take on more advanced work after you become a fully trained electrician, our Professional Electrical Course, upon completion of this course you will be efficient in domestic installation jobs and you will become qualified to inspect and test commercial, domestic or industrial electrical installations. Throughout this course you will also gain 5 industry qualifications.

If you are looking to become an electrician, our Premier Electrical Course, is rivalled by none. Upon completion of the Premier Electrical Course, you will be an expert in both domestic and commercial electrical work, and gain 6 essential industry qualifications including, Part P, 17th edition, PAT testing, Inspection and Testing, Periodic inspection and testing, and Design, Erection and Verification qualifications.

Gas Engineer

Here at Access Training we are incredibly proud of the quality of the courses that we provide to our students, across a range of disciplines.  As well as Plumbing and Electrical courses, we also offer a range of Gas Engineering courses. These courses are ideal if you are a plumber looking to develop your skill set or if you are a complete beginner who would like to become a gas engineer.

If you are interested in learning the fundamentals of Gas Engineering, or you are looking for a refresh course, then our Essential Gas Course is the perfect course for you. Here you will learn the basics such as, practical skills, understanding installations, how to repair, service and maintain gas boilers, and much more!

If you want to become a fully qualified gas engineer, we offer our Professional Gas Course which will equip you with all the advanced knowledge you need to succeed in this field. We will also help you work towards your ACS Certificate. Our Premier Gas Course will not only train you to become a fully qualified Gas engineer, you will also be able to install and maintain electrical appliances.

We also offer a range of construction courses, here at access training, including;

• Carpentry courses
• Bricklaying Courses
• Plastering Courses
• Tilling Courses
• Property Developer

If you are interested in enrolling onto any of our courses, or would like any information about the courses we offer, please get in touch!

In the UK we are in the midst of uncertain times. Are we going to stay in the EU? What impact will it have on the trade industry if we leave the EU? Plus other factors including the slowdown in growth of china’s economy and the falling costs in oil prices due to the increase of oil being produced by the US.

There are many theories suggesting that if the UK leaves the EU, then our construction industry will begin struggling because here in the UK, we rely heavily on people from Eastern Europe to come and work on our construction sites. In fact we mentioned in a past blog post that many sites will not be able to meet their deadlines, or even function without Eastern European people.

However, a recent survey conducted by Construction News, states that over 2016 53 per cent of companies who took part in the survey were planning on actually increasing their work force. The remaining 47 per cent said that they were planning on maintaining their current workforce levels. Surprisingly none of the companies that participated in the survey anticipated a reduction in their current workforce.

The current forecast for the construction industry is that there will be steady growth over the next few years. Our government has clearly stayed committed to building new homes, building new developments, and revamping tired looking city centres, coupled with high levels of domestic demand for tradespeople, the future is certainly looking positive for the tradespeople of the UK.

Because we are experiencing a national skills shortage, people will be recruiting more this year to help fill the gap, whether there UK leaves the EU or not.  So, in our minds, and the minds of all of our students here at access training, there has never been a better time to change your career and train to become a Plumber, Electrician, Bricklayer or a Carpenter.

If you are interested in learning more about our trade courses, feel free to contact us today! 

When we are contacted by individuals researching electrical training courses, one of their main concerns regarding the profession is the obvious issue of safety. We are repeatedly (and rightly) reminded about the dangers associated with electricity on an everyday level, so it's easy to see why someone might be hesitant regarding the profession, with only the layman's understanding that they will be working with a highly dangerous power source.

Before you decide to become an electrician, it's important to familiarise yourself with the risks associated with the profession. While this may seem rather off-putting at first, it is actually far more beneficial to those looking to build a long-term career as an electrician. When you are aware of the dangers posed to you, as well as to colleagues and members of the public, you are more likely to keep in mind how important it is to follow proper health and safety procedures. As we have noted in a previous post, a career as an electrician can be both lucrative and rewarding, but to be a truly successful electrical engineer you must always keep in mind the possible dangers associated with the job.

Whether you decide to become a domestic installer or a site services electrician, there will be particular risks within your set area, as well as many that are universal. For example, domestic call-outs can be dangerous for electricians, as they are often called to rectify poor work attempted by inexperienced individuals. The best defence against these risks, along with those in many other trade professions, is knowledge. If you receive the right training and qualifications, before going on to uphold the strict guidelines required to work as an electrician, you will ensure that you are able to substantially reduce these risks, almost eliminating them altogether.

To make your choice a bit more straightforward, here are some simple tips for ensuring safety as an electrician:

A shortage of skilled workers is affecting every area of construction industry and if Britain decides to leave the EU, we could experience real crisis with in the construction industry in the UK. A lot of people who currently work within construction are Latvian, Bulgarian or Polish, and without these people, companies in the UK will not be able to complete their projects on time. In most circumstances, Eastern Europe labour is what helps keep some construction sites going.

If you are a regular reader of our blog posts, you will know that we have discussed the skills shortage in the plumbing, electrical, and carpentry industries at length. But we want to make you aware that these are not the only industries affected. The UK also has a distinct shortage of bricklayers and plasterers.

A director of Beard Constructions John Youle, who is based at Cumnor Hill, Oxfordshire, said: “contractors are struggling to find enough workers, particularly skilled bricklayers and plasterers. As a result of this shortage, the going rate for a bricklayer has increased to £200 per day.

He went on to say:

“In Oxford, there have been increasing signs of a skills shortage in the industry. Bricklayers’ pay has gone up considerably during the past 18-24 months. It is not uncommon for bricklayers and plasterers to charge £150 - £200 per day or £1000 per week! Even newly qualified bricklayers are charging £150 per day.

In the UK, there is always huge demand for new homes to be build, and with many other projects on the pipeline, like the updating of City Centres (take Leeds for example) there is huge demand for people who are fully trained bricklayers and plasterers. This demand is showing no signs of decreasing any time soon. So to help alleviate the current pressures on companies, and tradespeople alike, the construction industry needs new talent entering the industry. This is where the education of people (we say people, because young or older people are unaware of the benefits of a career in the trade industry) is crucial to motivate them to consider embarking on a diverse career in plastering or bricklaying.

Here at access training, not only do we provide bespoke electrical and plumbing courses, we also deliver a range of bricklaying and plastering courses, that have been developed specifically to help people who have no previous experience of plastering or bricklaying gain top quality skills as quickly as possible to get them onto the site and earning £30K+  a year!

If you are interested in a career in bricklaying, or plastering, you can contact us by filling out the forms of the relevant course pages, or call us on 0800 345 7492 to speak to a course advisor. 

When you finish your chosen courses and become a fully qualified trades-person, your white van and your tools will become your biggest asset! These items do not come cheap and can prove to be quite disruptive to your business if they breakdown, or worse – get stolen.

According to a recent study conducted by ironmongery Direct, 23% tradespeople surveyed have had the unfortunate experience of a van theft, 230 of the 1000 people have experienced theft in the last five years.

Even though it has been reported by the Office for National Statistics that vehicle crime is decreasing, it is not surprising that vans get broken into more than cars, because of the potential of stealing some expensive tools.

Ironmongery Direct also uncovered in their study the regions which received the most break-ins, with the West Midlands coming out on top with a shocking 1,854 van thefts and a total of £6,381,239 stolen in the past 3 years. The region which received the second highest amount of theft is West Yorkshire, with a value of £3,000,925 stolen and 993 vans broken into over the same period.

Meanwhile, tradespeople in Merseyside experienced 653 thefts, 210 in Nottingham and 218 in Northumbria. Surprisingly, the city of London had the lowest amount of van thefts with 2 thefts reported over the last three year period.

As a trades person, your tools and your van are your most valuable assets, so keeping them safe should be your top priority.  Keeping your tools safe could be the difference of you going out to your jobs and earning money, you have to turn jobs down while you spend money getting your tools replaced.

To keep your tools safe, you should;

• take any tools out of your van at the end of your working day,
• park your van in a garage, so that thieves cannot access it,
• install anti-theft boxes in your van with anti-drill locks
• make your van harder to break into – install slam locks, dead locks
• Don’t leave your van unlocked – ever! Opportunistic thieves are always on the lookout!
• Make sure you have tagged all your tools, and
• Place a “No tools are lift in this van” deterrent sticker on the back of your van

Despite all this talk of break-ins, learning a trade can be a very rewarding career. No longer are you confined to the office walls between the hours of 9 and 5:30, doing a job that doesn't motivate you, and the only time you get to go outside is on your half an hour lunch!

Once you have become fully qualified in your chosen area, you can pick up the jobs which you want to do. Fancy a long lunch break, or even the afternoon off? Why not?! As a skilled trades-person, you have the ability to choose when hours you want to work.

Maybe your struggling to get by on £23,000 salary, as a qualified you could be earning up to £30K+ a year! Especially now, as there is currently huge demand for skilled workers, and not enough people to fill the gap! Essentially, if you are willing to put in the long hours, you will be rewarded with a very healthy salary.  Just remember to keep your tools safe!!

If all this talk about theft hasn't deterred you from wanting to learn a trade, click on the links below for more information about the courses that we offer.

• Electrician Courses 
• Plumbing courses 
• Gas Courses
• Carpentry Courses 
• Plastering Courses 
• Tiling Courses
• Bricklaying Courses 
• Painting & Decorating Courses 

Who can take this course?

Pros

Cons