British Gypsum, part of the worldwide Saint-Gobain group and a trusted partner of architects, contractors, and drylining and plastering professionals, is supporting Leicester College through its Thistle Partnership. The company recently provided the department with high quality materials for its plastering students to work with.

Ryan Seeley, Skills Partnerships Manager at British Gypsum, tells us more about the partnership…

Access to high quality materials

“The Thistle Partnership supports around 50 colleges, from all around the UK, that provide plastering training. We provide an allocated amount of free material consisting of different types of plaster, and plasterboards (such as Multifinish, Purefinish, Boardfinish, Durafinish, Hardwall, Fastset and Bonding 60) so the learners get access to high quality materials that they are likely to use in the industry in the future.”

Recognised and rewarded

“We also provide various product demonstrations and classroom presentations to inform the learners all about how the products that they use are made, and how to use them. Finally, we run competitions to enable the hard work that the learners put in throughout the years to be recognised and rewarded.”

Leicester College has been part of the Thistle Partnership for several years and it brings benefits to both the students, British Gypsum and the wider industry.

Ensuring the industry stays healthy

Ryan continues: “Keeping an eye on the interest in plastering and quality of skills being produced is a vital part of how we ensure the industry stays healthy. We can then provide support where its most needed, and identify areas of the UK where plastering is not offered as an opportunity to learners, then we can work to change that.

“Education providers work very closely with us, and we consider them a vital part of our industry. We always work to ensure they are involved in the discussion when changes are being made and they are able to have their say.”