British Gypsum has announced a six-week ‘site-ready skimming course’, which has been designed to provide participants with the skills needed to make an immediate contribution on site.
The course was developed with the objective of supporting sub-contractors in upskilling their drylining tapers, plastering labourers, general labourers, or employees with basic trowel skills, to be able to skim plasterboard on site.
The six-week course covers the practical training in the key skills required for skimming plasterboard. This includes learning how to finish internal angles, working to wet angles, the application and finishing of angle beads to external corners and around openings, and working on splayed angles, as well as working around services in both flat and window walls.
Plastering large wall areas to represent commercial projects is a key area covered on the course with students stretched and challenged to complete work to deadlines. The course also covers the correct use of the latest plastering tools and methods as well as identifying bad practice. At the end of the course, all participants will complete a final assessment to test all the skills they have developed over the six-week period so they can demonstrate they are able to produce a volume of finished work in a day.
A number of UK federations and sub-contractors were consulted as part of the groundwork in developing the course content, ensuring its relevancy to the industry and to help the skills shortage.
Speaking about the new course, James Maclean, senior technical support representative at British Gypsum’s Kirkby Thore Technical Academy, commented: “The site-ready skimming course has been designed with sub-contractors and main contractors in mind to give them an employee who at the end of the six weeks is capable of producing good volumes of work to the required standard. It has initially been created to give experienced site personnel who already have some trowel skills, for example drylining tapers or plastering labourers, a chance to further develop their skill set. This means that plastering or drylining sub-contractors can take on additional projects or deliver existing projects where there may have been labour issues due to the skills shortage.”
British Gypsum will initially offer the course through its Kirkby Thore and Erith Technical Academies. The course will be free of charge, and the cost to the sub-contractor will be the labour commitment away from site for the six-week training period.
After completing the course, attendees will have direct access to the resident plasterers at the Technical Academies should they want to discuss any issues they may encounter on site with skimming plasterboards. A basic tool kit is also included as part of the course package so that participants are working with the range of tools required for skimming plasterboard throughout the course. They can take this away with them at the end of the programme to use on site once they pass the final skills assessment.
If you have employees you feel would benefit from this course, please contact us on 0844 561 8810 or find out more at british-gypsum.com/site-ready-course.
