PHAM NEWS | SEPTEMBER 2024 Your Views


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No need to limit apprenticeship options


As a long-time member of Greenpeace and director of the UK’s leading Awarding Organisation for renewable qualifi cations you might be surprised that I’m not a big fan of the new ‘Low Carbon Apprenticeship’. While there is no doubt that we need more installers with the skills to fi t heat pumps and other renewable technologies (and more new entrants to the sector in general), the UK is a long way off from becoming fossil fuel-free. Most homes are still heated by gas, and this is not going to change anytime soon.


In fact, by off ering this route to young people keen to forge a career in our exciting and


varied sector, we are doing them a disservice and limiting their options. Making apprentices choose between traditional or low carbon routes is the wrong approach for all concerned.


At the UK’s current stage in its path to Net Zero we need multi-skilled installers who can


install heat pumps and, for a short time at least, new gas boilers. Once no longer installed, there will still be servicing and maintenance requirements for the millions of gas boilers that will be in use for 20 to 30 years to come. These multi-skilled installers will also be kept busy removing and decommissioning gas appliances from properties making the switch to heat pumps and other low carbon technologies. Only knowing about renewables is extremely limiting.


I imagine a Low Carbon Apprenticeship is more appealing to the younger generation: it


sounds progressive, eco conscious and on the face of it, better for the world at large than choosing the plumbing and gas route. What we need, however, is a ‘Heating Apprenticeship’ that off ers multi-technology pathways, with plumbing and gas at its core alongside heat pumps, biomass and/or solar thermal options.


At the moment, gas apprentices can of course go on to add heat pumps, but what would be


better is if the low carbon arm of our industry was explicitly included from the beginning. It’s time we stopped polarising our sector and served the building services landscape as it


currently stands. Consumers need installers trained to understand their heating requirements now and in the future; they’re looking for guidance on what’s best for their individual circumstance - only someone with a good understanding of the diff erent options available can provide this guidance.


Mark Krull Director for Logi4training and LCL Awards


The case for a licensing scheme


I write with reference to the Point of View article written by Tom Reynolds (July/August PHAM News). I strongly agree with his argument for the need for a licensing regime for plumbers and bathroom installers. The whole trade is in a shambles – not


fi t for purpose, leaving it wide open for the cowboy, rip-off merchants and rogue traders. And who is left to pay for this shambles? The public who have to put up with bad workmanship and extortionate prices. It is time that our trade associations all


got together and forced the government to make it mandatory for all tradespeople to be registered and licensed from their appropriate organisations. In the past 15 years I have been involved


in rectifying other tradesmen’s shambolic workmanship. On one occasion I had to call in the Building Standards to a renovation supposedly carried out by a professional builder. When they visited, he informed me that it was “the worst he had ever seen”. This customer had been paying this


person at every stage of the work and was out thousands of pounds. She then had to pay again for myself and a joiner and another builder whom I recommended after we had fi nished. The work was then checked, passed by Building Standards, and the lady got her Certifi cate of Compliance. Unfortunately, since this job, there have been 23 other jobs which have been badly installed, including bathrooms, boilers, and drain work. R.S. Watt Aberdeen


Falling for the trap


I read with interest a promotional piece for a waterless trap in your latest issue. For an uninitiated plumber it may


sound wonderful - all the advantages with possible space savings included. Unfortunately, it is not the all-singing and dancing device it is claimed to be. Many years ago I had to go back to


my own job where (in good faith) I had used this contraption. The customer complained about his smelly bathroom. When investigated, the fl exible sleeve was partially open as it had lost its elasticity over the years, changing the device into a part of the pipework with no barrier against a sewage smell. One free visit, few low articulated words


and a new standard P trap resulted again in a happy client. Needless to say, it was not the only occasion on which I had to replace these so called traps – sometimes with great diffi culty because of the much advertised ‘space saving design’. I advise readers to proceed with caution


as it may infl uence someone without long working experience and cause an unpleasant outcome for the customer in the following years. Petr Knichal Via email


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