The reach and impact of our project is currently limited due to:
Staff resources. Currently we must choose between delivering off-site work or providing the courses. This limits the number of participants we can support and slows down their progress. The grant would enable us to deliver both services at the same time, more than doubling the number of participants that we could support. As we train more people, we will be able to increase off-site work opportunities, also increasing the sustainability of the project.
The size and availability of the workshop. We currently run training in plumbing and woodwork, however the plumbing course had to be undertaken in a polytunnel which is not possible for the majority of the year. We want to deliver further courses including tiling, and bricklaying but cannot run these in our space. We currently train people "on the job" which can lead to quality issues. We want to rent a warehouse to expand our training courses and woodwork shop. The space would be kept as flexible as possible, with training "rooms" on wheelable bases that will be stored when other courses are delivered. The new premises would overcome these issues.
