In response to the lack of women and other under-represented groups in the building services engineering sector – less than 1% of tradespeople are female – we have launched an Inclusivity Charter for our centres, to encourage them to take steps to make their training facilities welcoming places, with flexible course options to suit people from all walks of life.

LCL Awards recently launched its new Inclusivity Charter at a CPD session held online. We have been working on the charter for around a year, following research into the experiences of women and minority groups training to work in the building services sector. 

The LCL Awards’ Inclusivity Charter, which has been introduced to promote respectful behaviour and flexible course delivery so more people can access training in the building services sector, is a finalist in the Training Initiative category of this year’s HVR Awards!

LCL Awards, took first place in the ‘Training Initiative of the Year’ category at the 2022 HVR Awards. A voted for category, LCL Awards won with its Inclusivity Charter, which encourages approved centres to promote respectful behaviour and flexible course delivery so more people can access training in the building services sector.

Rebus Training is a specialist electrical training centre focusing on apprentices, based in Stoke-on-Trent. Set-up by Jon Grocock and Gary Jackson in 2010, Rebus is now the largest private training centre in the area.

The company has recently added another feather to its cap in being awarded LCL Awards’ new Inclusivity Charter.

LCL Awards has recently awarded its Inclusivity Charter to Logic4training. Caroline Lay, Logic4training’s HR Director who oversees its 60 staff at centres in Northolt, Basildon, Luton and Sittingbourne, explains the steps Logic4training is taking to improve the diversity of both learners and staff and why she feels the Inclusivity Charter is so important to the business and sector at large: 

Ben Bayliss is proud that his training centre, Essex Skills, has recently been awarded LCL Awards’ Inclusivity Charter. The award-winning initiative was introduced by LCL Awards in 2022, to encourage their training centres to be more inclusive and encourage learners from diverse backgrounds.

Energy Technical Academy (ETA) has recently signed-up to LCL Awards’ Inclusivity Charter. We spoke to the company’s Senior Administrator, Rachel Wheeler, whose own experience makes her appreciate the accepting, welcoming environment that ETA promotes, to encourage individuals from diverse backgrounds to work in the trades.  

LCL Awards is a sponsor at this years Women Installers Together (WIT), the only national event for all women plumbers, gas engineers and other tradeswomen and trainees.

National Women’s Day in March this year saw the publication of a whitepaper about the experiences of women in the construction industry in the UK today. It was commissioned by On the Tools.

A report by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) indicates that more than a quarter of a million extra workers will be required by 2026 to meet projected growth in the built environment.

Faced with an aging workforce in which more people are retiring than training, Mark Krull from LCL Awards, argues that the industry needs to change its approach, from the training centre up, to encourage people from all walks of life to enter this thriving sector.

The 8^th March 2023 is International Women’s Day (IWD), a day to celebrate the achievements of women and think about what action we can take to drive gender parity and make the world a more diverse, equitable and inclusive place.

LCL Awards is sponsoring Women Installers Together (WIT) again this year. The event, which supports and promotes women working in the trades, will take place on Tuesday 4th July at London Metropolitan University.

According to research issued in January 2023, only 2% of plumbing and heating engineers are female.