Back to the classroom

So here we are in August. COVID restrictions seem to be being lifted and hopefully a return, be it gradual, to some form of normality is well on its way. It’s been anything but normal for the training department here at Elmhurst Energy, but I am delighted to say that we have risen to all the challenges set out, and adapted to ensure we are able to meet the requirements of our members.

Mitesh Nathwani, Training Manager One of the biggest changes we made was to move our popular classroom based courses online. Working tirelessly, we adapted these courses in a matter of a weeks, making most of them available on our website as soon as lockdown kicked in. This involved implementing new systems, retraining our support and training teams, as well as dealing with the implications the new systems would have on our accounts and accreditation departments. Above all, the most important part was to ensure the customer journey was as good as what our assessors know and expect of us.

Training has taken off

Over the last 18 months or so, we have seen a real upturn in the amount of people doing training of one sort or another. Initially there seem to be a huge number of assessors completing online CPD courses due to the lockdown and not being able to get out and about carrying out Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). Being in lockdown enabled assessors to catch up with their CPD hour requirements. To help with this we also sent out some free videos for each strand. As the months went on and we slowly started to open up and the government introduced the

stamp duty holiday, we found the numbers of houses being bought and sold increasing, thus leading to an increase in people wanting to enter the industry and become energy assessors. We got to a point where we had to take on extra trainers to meet the demand, which was a challenge - albeit a good one.

Another reason we have done so well is that, unlike before, the assessors are now able to complete our variety of courses from the comfort of their home or office. Whereas previously they had to travel to Lutterworth or to one of our venues around the country, this new way was saving them time and money on travel and overnight stays. I know all of the above points towards online courses being the way forward and the new norm. To some extent that is true but we have found that there is still a demand for classroom based training.

The majority of the trainers and learners we asked have stated that although online courses serves a purpose and works out better in terms of time and money, the one thing they all said they missed was the banter, the interaction, and networking that comes from being in a classroom environment. Plus it’s a lot harder to read body language and gauge peoples interest from a screen.

Return to classroom training

Over the past 2 months we have started a gradual return to classroom based training with the Psi-Value course and the Domestic Energy Assessor course. Each course has been sold out and more courses are being added every week. It would be great to be able to return to pre-COVID numbers but currently we are operating the classroom courses with restricted numbers to ensure social distancing takes place.

Overall, the past 12 to 18 months have brought about many challenges and at the same time, given us the opportunity to grow and develop our range of courses. The online courses have done far better than we ever expected and surpassed all our expectations. We have also been privileged to have been chosen to deliver training for the Government's Green Homes Grant project and be able to play a part in helping the number of Retrofit Assessors grow in England and also help those out of work to get a step into the industry as Domestic Energy Assessors and Retrofit Assessors.

As we now return to some form of normality we will be able to offer a full spectrum of training courses and ways of being trained thus meeting the requirements of all our assessors. Proof of this is the fact that many companies are now approaching us to carry out training for their teams whether that be an online course or classroom course, either at our offices or theirs. It’s been a rollercoaster of a time and I do believe as a training department we still haven’t seen the end of the effects of COVID but I do believe things will only get better and our offering will grow. That said, please take care and look after yourselves and I look forward to seeing you at one of our courses in the near future.