A new partnership has been announced between Cornwall College Camborne and Penryn-based Blue Flame Heat, the largest independent heating service, maintenance and installation company in the region.

The partnership is a five year plan that will see a new learning academy established that will help give young plumbers better access to work experience, the chance of an apprenticeship with Blue Flame Heat and will ultimately better prepare them for the demands of the industry. The company and the college have worked together to help shape the curriculum and the first students will be able to benefit from this as early as January.

Speaking at the launch, director at Blue Flame Heat, Paul Smith, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people in the local area; but this is not just an opportunity for them it’s also a chance for us as a company to help shape the engineers of the future, which will benefit the whole industry. With the team at Cornwall College we are working together to secure the right skills and competencies needed by modern engineers.”

During the launch event, students heard from current Blue Flame Heat apprentices, their experiences combining working and learning and the benefits that brings.

Paul added: “We recognised early on that if we want to grow our business, in the way we think it should grow, then we have to mould and shape our engineers. We believe that the apprenticeship scheme is the back bone of our business because it continuously delivers a high quality engineer which not only looks after us, but will also look after our customers.”

Curriculum lead for construction at the Cornwall College Group, Jon Ninnes, said: “We have been working hard on developing the right kind of learning environment for our students and this enables us to deliver on our promise of making learning work. We want our student to not only gain the right qualifications, but they also need to understand how the industry works and what it’s like to work for a firm like Blue Flame Heat; that’s something this partnership will help us to achieve.

“A bit of hard work and application could take a learner from school leaver to gas engineer in five years, backed by one of the largest and most professional plumbing and heating companies in Cornwall; that is an amazing opportunity for our learners.”