A INDUSTRY-BACKED organisation has completed the latest expansion phase to its national training centre following a £500,000 re-development.

Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA), formed to represent organisations within the industrial and commercial insulation industry, is the sole provider of thermal insulation apprenticeships in the UK.

The six-month build, at TICA’s headquarters in Darlington, has increased the centre’s floor space by 30 per cent creating additional workshops, specialist asbestos training rooms, enhanced classroom provision, new kitchen and toilet facilities and recycling and storage areas.

The centre, funded through TICA membership contributions and voluntary member levies, provides customised training for thermal insulation apprentices, in addition to the delivery of NVQ qualifications and competency assessments for skilled workers.

It is also home to the head office of ACAD, the Asbestos Control and Abatement Division of TICA.

TICA chief executive Marion Marsland said: “Our latest expansion has given us the capacity to provide even more bespoke training.

“In our role as Sector Skills Council we are delivering a greater number of competency assessments to skilled workers as well as accommodating our core apprenticeship facility and these new premises allow us to accommodate both sets of training on the one site.

“We now have an enhanced building that is rich in resources, staffing and facilities, where we are able to consistently produce very high quality training.”