Westdale Midlands Ltd

Small Employer Award

Partnering with Coventry College, Westdale Midlands runs skills bootcamps to support local residents to retrain for green jobs.

Westdale Midlands provides external wall insulation in the social housing sector, in line with national and regional net zero agendas. Seeking to fill vacancies and engage local residents, working with Coventry College to deliver a two-week Insultation Technician Skills Bootcamp.

The bootcamp retrains and upskills residents who may previously have been unemployed, faced redundancy or want to move into the construction industry. Support from local referral agencies, including Coventry Job Shop, Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service, has been invaluable to the success of this partnership.

So far, 30 people have completed the bootcamp. As a result of the high-quality training and guarantee of an interview at the end, 11 participants have secured a job with Westdale. They have progressed into 12-week training programme at Westdale’s Training Centre in Coventry.

John Tesfay, who has completed the Insulation Technician Skills Bootcamp, said: "From being unemployed, with a wife and three young girls, I am in a much better situation to now be able to provide for my family. I would strongly recommend Westdale and Coventry College to others. They have put together a training plan which takes people with no experience, teaches them the ropes, and gives them a job at the end."