Epwin Window Systems’ membership programme, Excellence as Standard, has partnered with MRG Services, said to be the largest UK national provider of qualifications to the window industry.
Katie Leese, programme manager for Excellence as Standard, said: “One of the biggest concerns in the industry at the moment is the impending skills gap. We know that fabricators and installers are concerned about finding skilled workers and it’s something that Excellence as Standard helps address. The comprehensive membership programme aims to drive quality at every stage of the business and a core part of that is in having a skilled and qualified workforce.”
Formed in 2007, MRG Services is said to have established a strong reputation for delivering quality apprenticeship training programmes, as validated by Ofsted. The team operates a ‘we bring the college to you’ approach, which is designed to deliver all programmes directly on site to the fabricator or installer.
A cornerstone of Excellence as Standard is the Excellence Academy, which offers routes to creating a skilled workforce. Through this training platform numerous courses are now available, all managed by MRG Services.
MRG Services UK is headed up by industry training specialist, Paul Gray, who has over 20 years’ experience in delivering qualifications to the industry. Paul said: “We are delighted to partner with Excellence as Standard as the principles of the programme are closely aligned with our own. We offer Excellence as Standard members a range of approved courses, from one day health and safety workshops, CSCS card accreditations, and competence update assessments, to full apprenticeships. There are qualifications for window, door and conservatory installers, installers of roof line products, glaziers, curtain walling installers, window, door and conservatory fabricators, glass processors, stores and warehouse persons, panel installers and trade counter staff.”
The partnership with MRG Services UK complements the additional training services of Excellence as Standard approved partner, Pro-fitter. Katie said: “We recently partnered with Pro-Fitter which is a fully GQA-accredited and recognised training centre. It provides hands-on and classroom-based training in a variety of fenestration products. The mix of Pro-Fitter hands-on training and NVQ/training qualifications with MRG Services UK delivers a complete training platform to help upskill our members’ workforce and give them a competitive edge in the process.”
