British Gypsum raising skill levels with Galliford Try

When construction industry titan Galliford Try wanted to raise skill levels amongst its staff, the company turned to British Gypsum and its Site Manager training course to get results.

Reputation is everything for a large firm like Galliford Try – the company has built its name on more than a century of high-performance, high-quality construction work.

As a result, clients have come to expect a certain level of excellence from the construction, housebuilding and regeneration specialist.

In order to maintain this standard, management needs to constantly be on the lookout for ways to continue progressing its staff’s professional development.

That is why Galliford Try came to evaluate the different training programmes available in an effort to find a course that would deliver true value for its staff.

Bill Greaves, Quality & Improvement Manager, attended a plethora of different training programmes to seek the most useful one for the team.

During the process, he came across British Gypsum’s Site Manager training course, a one-day course offering valuable insight and advice on the company’s range of plasterboards, partitioning and ceiling systems.

It quickly became obvious to Bill that the Site Manager training course represented the best option available.

He commented: “British Gypsum’s Site Manager training course is one of the best courses I’ve ever attended. I was on the lookout for an effective way to raise the skill level amongst the team and it became obvious that this was the right course.

“In fact, I was so impressed with the standard of teaching on the course that I immediately decided to send the rest of my team on it.”

Bill has booked Galliford Try employees onto three separate sessions with British Gypsum’s training staff. He’s had a further 20 people sign up in subsequent weeks and is currently liaising with the Technical Academy team on more dates to send further employees.

He added: “At this point practically everyone that I work with on a daily basis has been on the course. Even our technical expert, who is considered something of a guru attended it. He said he had a very positive experience and learnt something he didn’t know.”

In attending the Site Manager Training course, the team members at Galliford Try are now more aware of examples of good practice and in a better position to spot common mistakes on the dry lining fit out.

It is helping the company as it looks to install products and systems in a manner that go above and beyond standard expectations.

The Site Manager Training course is helping staff at Galliford Try reduce the number of avoidable errors they make on a day-to-day basis – it is estimated that mistakes on-site can cost the construction industry around £21bn a year.

The construction industry is responding to the concerns with a range of different programmes. Last year saw the launch of the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI), which looks to raise standards across the construction industry by working with companies to develop tailored strategies for error reduction.

Bill is already beginning to notice the results: “I was on-site recently with a bunch of staff who had attended the course. I was watching them from a distance and noticed one of the site managers challenge a contractor who was installing the wall boarding.

“The installer seemed happy that the work was satisfactory, but the site manager disagreed. It was fantastic to see him have the confidence to challenge the work.

“Ultimately, the White Book was consulted, and it was revealed the boarding had been incorrectly fixed and required replacing. Obviously, this was not ideal, but the Site Manager was simply doing his job and who knows how much money he may have saved us in the long-run.”

As with all of its training courses, British Gypsum offers the Site Manager Training course through its national network of Technical Academies.

The company can also carry out training at external regional offices with the support of a mobile training rig which allows practical demonstrations to be carried out while combining theory in a training room environment.

Although it is no substitute for the one-day Site Manager’s course, the mobile training allows main contractors to work around their schedules and it does not require the same resource planning as an offsite training course.

For more info on British Gypsum’s range of industry-leading training courses, click here