BiKBBI Launches Education Steering Committee

As the only government-sanctioned organisation dedicated to kitchen, bedroom and bathroom installation, BiKBBI represents thousands of installation businesses and installers nationwide and, furthermore, has established and nurtured relationships with a wide network of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers and other stakeholders within the KBB industry throughout its history.

BiKBBI is now using its network to form the BiKBBI Education Steering Committee (ESC), the purpose of which is to assemble stakeholders, advisors and sector specialists to determine the direction of the organisation in the development and support of education within the KBB installation sector. The ESC will facilitate debate on important issues facing the sector, define areas of focus in line with industry needs, identify goals and objectives and provide an effective forum for decision-making, and will primarily concentrate on apprenticeships, CPD and retraining.

The committee consists of a Committee Chairperson and ten committee members and was assembled via a targeted recruitment process, ensuring representation from all areas of the sector, and all committee members possess the required skill, experience and enthusiasm to drive positive change. The ESC chair will be Hannah Hockley from TAP, BiKBBI’s appointed apprenticeships partner. Board members include Tom Reynolds (BMA), Jerry Whiteley (CiPHE), Lisa Williamson (Achieve + Partners), Barry Moss (LEAP), Andy Rayner (Travis Perkins), Stephen Johnson (Quooker), Emma Leech (Howdens), Carl Terlecki (Terlecki Limited), Kerry Wilson (BMF) and Rebecca Bertram-Smith (The Furniture Maker’s Company).

Damian Walters, CEO of BiKBBI commented ‘With an aging workforce and declining numbers of compliant installation specialists, our industry faces an unprecedented challenge. For many years our focus has been firmly on education and the development of a sustainable pipeline of professional installers for the future. As such, we collaborated with key strategic partners to build a modern, fit-for-purpose apprenticeship programme for fitted interiors and we also launched the BiKBBI employer support service in 2021. But there is still much to do to deliver the workforce to meet demands of the future, both in terms of numbers and standards, and education, learning and development should be at the top of the agenda for all stakeholders – ultimately, how we handle the current skills gap will impact all areas of the industry.

The creation of the BiKBBI Education Steering Committee is the next level of collaboration for BiKBBI, as they create a forum for all areas of the industry to discuss, debate and decide on key topics that will work towards solving the mounting skills gap crisis and build a legacy to ensure a sustainable workforce for the future.’

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