LCL Awards has held its first award ceremony, ‘LCL – The Awards’, celebrating the achievements of its approved centres. The event, which formed part of the Awarding Organisation’s twentieth anniversary celebrations, took place at Hilton Leicester.
LCL Awards approved centres were invited to enter five categories – Gas, Electrical, Green, Inclusivity and Innovation – which were judged by an independent panel of four representatives from industry:
- Stewart Clements ofDirector of The Heating & Hot Water Industry Council (HHIC)
- Brett Forster, Head of Training at NAPIT
- Hattie Hassan MBE, CEO of Stopcocks and advocate for women in the trades
- Charlotte Lee, CEO of The Heat Pump Association.
Competition was tough and the judges were impressed with the standard of the submissions and the initiatives that LCL Awards’ approved centres have set up to ensure high quality training and support for their candidates.
Mark Krull, Director for LCL Awards, said: “Our first ever Award ceremony has been a great success, the perfect centrepiece to our 20th anniversary celebrations. LCL Awards has grown significantly over the last two-decades, evolving to meet the needs of the sector, while keeping quality and integrity at its core. We couldn’t have achieved all we have without our centres; they are the lynchpin of our business and ambassadors for LCL’s qualifications.
“I feel extremely proud of our centres and the work our staff do in supporting them. I’d like to thank the independent panel of judges for the time and care they took in picking the winners look forward to our next Awards event in 2025.”
And the winners were!
Gas Centre of the year: Brookhouse Training (BTC Training Centre Limited).
The judges felt that Brookhouse was “a full and comprehensive training centre.” They were particularly impressed with the guaranteed work placements, ongoing mentoring, and training that the centre provides to support its candidates.
Chris Hayton, the centre’s Operations Manager, was at the event to receive the certificate and trophy: “This Award has given us a real boost. We’ve not been with LCL Awards for long and it’s really good to have our efforts recognised.”
Electrical Centre of the year: Logic4training – Sittingbourne
Amongst strong competition, the judges thought Logic4training – Sittingbourne provided its electrical candidates with great facilities and online support. One judge described it as a “superb looking centre with great commitment from the training team.”
Logic4training’s Sittingbourne centre was the winner, represented by Centre Manager, Phil Hickey: “I’m so proud to have won this award for our centre. Our Head of Electrical, Nigel Harman has worked incredibly hard to provide our learners with state-of-the-art facilities and training.”
Green Centre of the year: MidKent College
MidKent College was recognised for its great ambition in showing learners a pathway to net zero, with one judge saying, “not only do they have an impressive facility, they vastly demonstrate the uses and implementation of green technologies.”
Inclusivity Award: Walsall Training Centre
The panel members were unanimous in choosing Walsall Training Academy as the winner, with case studies that showed the centre’s impressive efforts to integrate with the community. One judge exclaimed: “There’s so much inclusivity – it’s amazing!” The company’s Director, Steve Edis is thrilled to have won:
“We’re extremely proud to have won this award and have been posting it on our social media platforms ever since! This is a fantastic initiative from LCL Awards, it’s great to hear about what the other centres are doing and have the opportunity to share best practice.”
Innovation Award: Energy Academy
This was a close-run category, but Energy Academy came first place. The judges were impressed with the centre’s out of hours training programme, “an innovative online platform that has been successfully rolled out for many courses and to many trainees.”
The Awards ceremony took place the night before LCL’s annual forum, where its centres from around the country get together. This year’s forum took place at the National Space Centre in Leicester.
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