SCOTTISH Gas today announced a major expansion of its training academy north of the border and the doubling of recruitment of apprentice gas engineers over the next year.
It will invest more than £2million in a new site for training its Scottish engineers, at Hamilton.
This will replace the existing academy at Queenslie, in Glasgow.
The company will also increase apprentice numbers to 100 each year.
Meanwhile, the apprenticeship period will also be increased from one year to 18 months, to ensure that engineers are given the broadest possible training.
The new Scottish academy will offer continuous training to Scottish Gas’s 800 existing engineers and will also train engineers from the north of England.
Throughout the UK, British Gas will increase the number of new apprentices and adult trainees with a £40million investment in recruitment and training, through its network of five academy training centres.
There remains an industry-wide shortfall of domestic gas engineers, because of an ageing workforce, a fall in recruitment and training of new entrants and increasing customer demand for home services and boiler repairs.
Scottish Gas said it recognised the importance of targeting skill gaps in rural areas and is currently training a class from Aberdeen to combat shortages of engineers in that area.
John Connolly, general manager with Scottish Gas, said: “Our business depends on skilled labour.
“We need highly trained people to give the best possible service to our customers. The apprenticeship training programme sits at the heart of our business growth plans and our research showed apprentices to be 25% more productive than employees trained elsewhere.”
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