Building services provider J S Wright has teamed up with a major distributor to give tomorrow’s engineers a head start in delivering a sustainable future for Britain.
11 technical apprentices from the mechanical and electrical design and build specialist, which is based in Birmingham and has offices in Bristol and London, were given an exclusive tour of Wolseley UK’s Sustainable Building Centre in Leamington.
As members of the J S Wright Academy, the company’s training forum, they were accompanied on their day-long visit by their Academy leader and associate director, Paul Millington, and J S Wright’s quality engineer, Ben Wright.
The group was hosted by Wolseley UK’s head of sustainability, Tim Pollard, who was instrumental in founding the purpose-designed building which provides a showcase of all the sustainable products and systems available from the UK’s leading specialist plumbing and heating product distributor.
Mr Pollard showed the apprentices technology ranging from air and ground-source heat pumps, biomass boilers and combined heat and power units to solar thermal and photovoltaic panels, rainwater harvesting, porous paving and underfloor heating, and highlighted their respective merits for domestic and commercial use.
He also gave a lecture on the challenges facing Britain as it seeks to reduce the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy in order to meet its 2008 climate change commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, emphasising the vital but also exciting role his audience will play in delivering a sustainable future.
The apprentices also toured Wolseley’s 355,000sqft National Distribution Centre, which processes 65 million items per year and is powered during the summer by an array of 8,000 photovoltaic panels that also deliver an energy surplus for export.
Tony Harrison, key account manager for Wolseley UK, said: “Manufacturers, specifiers, installers and end users all need to engage in tackling climate change and increasing energy efficiency, which is why we invited J S Wright’s apprentices to our Sustainable Building Centre. They were attentive, enthusiastic and a credit to a company with whom we have built up a strong and trusted relationship.”
J S Wright, which was founded in Birmingham in 1890, specialises in the design and installation of mechanical and electrical services for the hotel, residential, social housing, student accommodation, leisure and commercial sectors.
The company was voted one of the UK’s Top Ten Specialist Contractors to Work For in the 2016 Construction Enquirer Awards, and named H&V News Building Services Contractor of the Year in 2015.