Rochdale Training - new plumbing centre

Students at Rochdales new training centre

Rochdale Training has recently opened a new Plumbing Centre at its premises in Fishwick Street. The government-funded centre has been opened to train local people for the jobs that will come from all the redevelopment work going on currently in Rochdale.

John Huxley CEO of Rochdale Training comments: “The major redevelopments at Kingsway, in the town centre and with school rebuilding mean there’s going to be a huge demand for plumbers trained to install water, heating and pipework in the new buildings. To stop outsiders getting this work, we want to train our local people to do these jobs and that’s why we’ve set up the centre.

“We did a survey of plumbers in Rochdale and found that 20% were either retired or semi-retired, so if we want local people to have the opportunity to do this redevelopment work, we’ve got to train them here in Rochdale.”

The centre is headed by Ernest Curzon, Workshop Manager at Rochdale Training and currently offers apprenticeships for young people but is developing short courses in plumbing skills for the unemployed, community groups and individuals. The plumbing tutor is Anthony Burke, who has over 20 years experience as a plumbing tutor as well as running his own plumbing and electrical business in Rochdale.

Luke Howarth an apprentice of Carl Moore Plumbing amp; Heating comments: “There’s nothing else in Rochdale like this and there’s a 1 – 2 years wait to get on plumbing courses in other towns so this is great.”