Supporting and developing the next generation of installers is a core part of Polypipe Building Products’ commitment to the construction industry. As the sector continues to face ongoing skills shortages and evolving regulatory requirements, ensuring future plumbing and heating professionals leave education with job-ready, practical experience has never been more important.
Through its support for Leeds College of Building, Polypipe Building Products is helping to create realistic training environments where students develop practical installation skills, using the same products which they’re likely to install throughout their careers. By combining product support with technical expertise, Polypipe Building Products demonstrates its commitment to raising industry standards and investing in future talent.
As Europe’s largest specialist construction college, Leeds College of Building has been equipping the next generation of construction professionals with practical skills for over six decades. Established in 1960, the college supports over 6,000 students per year across a range of technical and professional construction pathways. With a strong emphasis on employability, its approach goes beyond helping students pass assessments, instead ensuring they leave with the confidence and technical knowledge required for success on-site.
This shared view of practical learning and nurturing future talent has made supporting colleges like Leeds College of Building a natural extension of Polypipe Building Products’ commitment to the industry.
Creating a hands-on learning environment
For the college’s plumbing and heating cohorts, practical experience is embedded throughout the course. Learners spend a significant portion of their studies working within dedicated assessment bays, which are designed to replicate domestic installations as closely as possible.
Polypipe Building Products has supplied a range of plumbing and heating systems for multiple assessment bays, helping to create environments where students are able to develop practical installation skills using products that they’ll encounter throughout their careers. This hands-on experience also helps to build familiarity and confidence, even before students step on-site.
The bays play a central role in the students’ end-of-course assessments. Each year, learners are challenged to install and complete bathroom or cloakroom suites to a set specification, with the assessment criteria evolving to reflect industry best practice. Once assessments are completed, the bays are typically stripped back and prepared for the following year's cohort. However, one assessment bay, which mimics the initial installation stage and uses Polypipe Building Products’ systems, will remain in place this year to provide students with opportunities to practice installation and build confidence throughout their studies.
A relationship beyond product supply
Alongside supplying products, Polypipe Building Products extends its support for the college by sharing technical expertise directly with both teaching staff and students. Through presentations, practical guidance and open discussion, the team provides insight into installation best practice, product innovations, the role that manufacturers play in the construction supply chain, as well as what students can expect when working on-site.
These sessions provide students with the opportunity to hear directly from industry professionals, ask questions, and to better understand how their studies translate into real-world installations. For Polypipe Building Products, they also form an important part of the company’s wider long-term investment in supporting education, nurturing future talent, and helping to ensure the next generation of installers enter the industry equipped with the skills and confidence required to succeed.
Equipping the next generation of installers
By working closely with providers like Leeds College of Building, Polypipe Building Products is helping to strengthen the industry’s future workforce, encouraging best practice from the very earliest stages of an installer’s career and reinforcing its role in skills development.
As the plumbing and heating sector continues to evolve, collaboration between manufacturers and education providers will become even more important in ensuring training keeps pace with new technology, regulation and customer expectations.
Speaking about Polypipe Building Products’ support for the college, Alistair Mitchell, Curriculum Manager, shared:
“Having support from manufacturers like Polypipe Building Products is invaluable for our standards and teaching staff. Whilst it’s not always possible to take every student to a manufacturer’s facilities, bringing manufacturers into the classroom gives students direct access to industry expertise.
“Providing product also means that our students are able to quickly develop practical skills which directly translate to working on-site in years to come.”
You can find out more about Leeds College of Building at www.lcb.ac.uk.