44
JULY 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
ALL TOOLED UP
Leading PVCue building products manufacturer Kestrel is to
set up stall at the largest ever FH Tool Show this month.
The annual event, organised by Frank Howard Tools and Fixings,
has grown out its normal venue and will be
heading to Colchester
United Football Ground.
Taking place on July 17
and 18, the free event promises to draw hundreds of
visitors including installers,
builders and other tradespeople.
Kestrel, which supplies
a wide range of PVCu and
PVCue roofline, window
line and cladding products,
will join more than 30 leading tool and construction
machinery supp liers at the
two-day show.
Kestrel sales and marketing director Simon Reynolds said: “Frank Howard
Tools and Fixings have
been customers of ours for
quite some time and we are
delighted to be invited to
attend their new-look show.
It’s great to see the event go
from strength to strength.
Frank Howard Tools and
Fixings, a large independent
stockist formed in 1988, has
branches in Braintree and
Chelmsford in Essex and
Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire.
‘This promises to be the largest
tool show in our history and
we look forward to welcoming
businesses from across the
country for the two-day event’
“For Kestrel, it’s an ideal
opportunity for us to
showcase our brand and
products to a wide range of
construction companies and
tradespeople.”
Along with tools, the
company stocks a range
of roofline products from
Kestrel for its trade customers.
Company owner Frank
Howard said: “This promises to be the largest tool
show in our history and we
look forward to welcoming
businesses from across the
country for the two-day
event.
“It will be an ideal opportunity for tradespeople
to see the whole range of
products and tools on offer,
enjoy the demonstrations
and networking opportunities.”
Pick up the PRO
Installer, FREE,
from one of
over 600 trade
counters.
ADF PLASTICS LTD
For further details about
the show, contact Frank
Howard Tools and Fixings
on 01376 327 454 or
visit their Facebook page
at: www.facebook.com/
events/1006533442692453
Thirty University
Technical Colleges
launched with more
in the pipeline
When Lord Baker and Lord Dearing first
developed the idea of the Baker Dearing
Educational trust, they wanted to see a
hundred UTCs open by 2015. Already 30
UTCs have been launched around the country,
with over 20 more opening by 2016.
The colleges for 14 to
19-year-olds, teach engineering, product design,
health sciences, construction, environmental services
and food technology, allowing for more of a vocational
based learning approach.
It is hoped the UTCs will help
in bridging the current skills gap
in the construction industry.
The UTCs are an attempt at
reviving the long-forgotten
technical schools, which were
enshrined, alongside grammar
schools in the 1944 Education
Act, but which never got off the
ground. The idea first got approval from Labour’s Lord Adonis,
then the schools minister.
They provide young people
with the skills they need to
innovate and invent and meeting the skills needs of the future
and backed by more than 500
employers, they are taking off
much faster than city technology
colleges.
They are traditionally smaller
than secondary schools, with typically 600 students, non-selective
and with no fee. They are sub re-
gional and have a catchment area
that may extend across a number
of local authorities.
Employers are fundamental to
UTCs. They play a central role in
UTCs right from the very beginning to identify business needs
and the skills shortages in the local region. This shapes the technical specialists of the UTC and ensures it meets the needs of local
employers. Getting involved also
offers employers the opportunity
to ensure the next generation has
the expertise, employability skills
and knowledge needed to meet
the future needs of business.
Silverstone UTC, one of the
first UTCs to open nationwide,
in September 2013, is a brand
new centre of excellence for
young people wanting to break
into the specialist fields of High
Performance Engineering and
Business & Technical Events
Management. It is based in the
very heart of British Motorsport,
at the Silverstone racing grounds,
in the stunning new multi-million
pound facility.
Lord Baker, Chairman of the
Baker Dearing Educational Trust
said, “Amongst the first UTCs no
student has joined the ranks of
the unemployed. Every student
continued in education, or went
into employment or training.
There were no “NEETs” and this
is our aim for all UTCs.”