Polypipe Building Products were delighted to welcome our new PolyPlumb® Enhanced Ambassadors, Livvi Hodges and Cary Rudd, to our Doncaster sites recently for an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour to kick off our partnership for the year.
Unveiled at InstallerSHOW 2026, Livvi and Cary are set to bring fantastic energy and dedication to the PolyPlumb® Enhanced Ambassador Scheme.
Their day began at our Neale Road manufacturing site, where they were greeted with some special welcome goodies before the tour got underway.
Marcus Bennett, our QA Technical Support Engineer, took them through a comprehensive tour of the facilities.
Our Neale Road manufacturing site is most well known for producing our plastic plumbing fittings and our plumbing and heating pipework.
Following this, the group headed over to Broomhouse Lane to see our wider product range being manufactured, with Quality Manager Michael Cooke guiding them through the operations.
It was fantastic to hear such positive feedback from Cary and Livvi post-tour, proving once again that the expertise and experience of our team members truly shine through.
Meet Livvi Hodges
Livvi, based in Norfolk, has dedicated much of her career to encouraging more women to consider careers in construction and plumbing.
She shared,
"When I was 16 I started my apprenticeship with a housing association, gaining my L3 plumbing and gas in the 4 year apprenticeship and continuing with them for 3 years after.
"I then got a job at Cambridge regional college as a plumbing lecturer and did my assessing qualification and L3 teaching qualification - in my time giving numerous talks to young people and parents about being a female in trade to try and encourage more girls to come onto the courses.
"I have always tried to promote girls/women into construction, I feel very passionately about giving girls the opportunity to try it out. I have organised several days for local school girls to come to college for a day and try out plumbing, which have always been a huge success.
"I worked there for 7 years until I had my little girl and moved back home to Norfolk, and got a job at my local college in Kings Lynn as a plumbing lecturer. I progressed to the Gas training centre and qualified in Heat pumps and started teaching heat pumps, unvented, water regs and gas to customers renewing their qualification.
"I recently have set up my own business with my partner called FF plumbing and renewables (our children are called Faye and Freddie!) as well as still teaching at the college of west Anglia.
"Being selected as a PolyPlumb® Enhanced Ambassador is something I'm incredibly proud of. Plumbing has given me so many opportunities throughout my career, from completing my apprenticeship to teaching the next generation of installers and running my own business."
Meet Cary Rudd
Cary, from Manchester, impressed our judging panel with his resilience and passion for promoting the trades. Currently in the fourth year of his plumbing and domestic heating apprenticeship, Cary overcame early redundancy and reached the final of the Screwfix Trade Apprentice competition this year.
He shared,
"I began my apprenticeship straight out of high school, learning my love for trade style work after accompanying my dad, who is a painter and decorator, since I was around the age of 13 on his jobs to offer a hand.
"I learnt that hard work was the answer to becoming successful and always loved the idea of being your own boss and living life on your own terms. Since beginning my journey on my apprenticeship I had many ups and down, being made redundant at my first firm and struggling to find another before I would have had to have been kicked off my apprenticeship course.
"After finding a new company to carry on my 4 year course, things started to fall into place with the help from great mentors and college teachers along the way which I owe a lot of credit to being in the position I am in today. I was able to reach the final of the Screwfix Trade Apprentice this year which I was extremely proud of, and also being nominated for awards in college and work.
"Seeing the final goal now being close to finishing my course and becoming qualified I feel extremely grateful and like I definitely made the right decision getting into a trade young.
"I'm so pleased to have been chosen as an ambassador. The support available from Polypipe Building Products through the PolyPlumb Enahnced Ambassador scheme will be invaluable as I continue to develop my career. Vitally, it’s also a great opportunity to represent an industry that has already given me so much."
Their distinct backgrounds and shared commitment to education and mentorship compliment each other brilliantly. We are excited to be working closely with them and look forward to seeing all the fantastic content they produce in the coming year.
Make sure to keep an eye on their social channels for the start of their content as official PolyPlumb® Enhanced Ambassadors.
For Livvi: @ffplumbingandrenewables
For Cary: @cjrr.plumbing
For Polypipe Building Products: @polypipetrade