//South Birmingham College

• Who are they?

One of the largest and most successful colleges of Further Education in the UK, recognised as one of the best training providers in the country.

• Why do we work with them?

In October 2008, the NVQ in Sport & Play Surfaces (Level 2) was launched by SAPCA in partnership with SkillsActive, EdExcel and South Birmingham College. In 2009, Technical Surfaces became the first maintenance company to enrol. We have since worked in close collaboration with the college to ensure the NVQ continues to meet the needs of our industry, and are arranging for our qualified technicians to run training courses for the college towards the end of 2010.

Before the introduction of the NVQ the synthetic sports surface industry was unregulated, although it has long been an ambition of trade associations, key sports governing bodies and member companies including Technical Surfaces to see a comprehensive qualifications and training programme established. Clients increasingly expect projects that they fund to be constructed and maintained by contractors who employ qualified operatives.

Our commitment to training and development has seen all of our site-based operatives enrolled on the NVQ, who have to date achieved a 100% pass rate. As a result of our close working relationship with South Birmingham College throughout the training process, the college has gained an understanding of how a maintenance company operates through our existing knowledge base and organisational structure in place, while we in turn benefit from the introduction of standardisation within our industry.

In April 2010, South Birmingham College confirmed that Technical Surfaces’ input and knowledge has actually influenced changes to the qualification for the new NVQ framework. Re-shaping the blueprint and setting the standard for training throughout our industry is an achievement of which we are immensely proud, both for ourselves and for the future growth and development of the synthetic sports surface industry.