BDL apprentice selected to meet London Deputy Mayor
BDL are pleased to share the recent visit to West London College by the Deputy Mayor of London for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, James Pipe CBE, where he met with Britney Burrows, one of our apprentices, selected to meet with the Deputy Mayor due to her excellent performance at college.
The purpose of the Deputy Mayor’s visit to West London College (Southall campus) was to understand how the ‘Green Skills’ agenda is being taught in the Interior Systems Installer apprenticeship, particularly around insulation.
West London College was named as the first of the Mayor’s Construction Academy (MCA) hubs – launched by Jules Pipe at City Hall on 25 January 2019, to strengthen coordination between construction skills training providers and construction sector employers, whilst also providing capital funding for up-to-date training equipment and premises.
A key focus of the MCA hubs is on providing the training and skills needed by employers to create green jobs, and to equip West Londoners with the skills and experience needed to secure green jobs in areas such as green construction, sustainability, insulation and recycling, aimed at substantially preserving or restoring environmental quality.
Britney joined BDL in January this year after contacting us directly seeking an apprentice opportunity. She started as an Apprentice Dryliner, and begun her apprenticeship at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College in April, joining the Interior Systems Installer Level 2 apprenticeship, which runs for 12 to 18 months.
The Interior Systems Installer course provides an apprenticeship specifically for the Drylining trade, a specialist contracting occupation largely involved in the construction of partitions, walls and ceilings. The course is a core apprenticeship standard and offers two pathway routes:
- Drylining – apprentices learn methods to install different drylining systems that form the walls and rooms within a building, which are often used to hide wires and pipes whilst improving acoustics and creating space for insulation.
- Ceiling and Partitions – apprentices learn how to incorporate different ceiling and partition systems within a building, typically used to provide different types of working environments, taking into account lighting and other fixtures.
As part of the Interior Systems Apprenticeship, Brittney works four days a week on site, supported by a mentor and the Social Value and Early Talent (SVET) team, and attends college one day a week.
BDL currently have six apprentices enrolled on the course, all of whom are based at West London College, and 13 apprentices in total, employed across our Commercial and Trade functions.
The Interior Systems sector alone has over 35,000 operatives working on extremely diverse projects in hotels, schools, airports, football stadiums, hospitals and shopping centres. Interior Systems operatives have played a major part in the construction of some of the country’s iconic structures, known throughout the world, which include Canary Wharf, Olympic Stadium, Battersea Power Station and the Shard.
This is a fast growing sector with many opportunities for career progression into site supervision and management positions. The broad purpose of the occupation is to install, repair and maintain various elements of the internal structure of a building to a high standard.
