New NVQ for Thomas Vale Employees

Thomas Vale Employees are set to take on the challenge of a new NVQ qualification in Business Improvement Techniques (BIT) for Construction. The Pilot programme which is supported by the Learning Skills Council and promoted by the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence (WMCCE) will be carried out with the Housing Regeneration Division and will focus on the Decent Homes programme with Wolverhampton Homes.

Wolverhampton Homes was established on 1 October 2005. They are an ALMO (Arms Length Management Organisation) managing the council housing stock of Wolverhampton on behalf of Wolverhampton City Council. Wolverhampton Homes, wholly owned by Wolverhampton City Council, is tasked with managing the council’s homes and delivering almost £400 million of refurbishment and improvement works to bring its housing stock up to the government’s Decent Homes Standard by 2012.

A Programme induction was held at the Novotel in Wolverhampton to introduce the qualification to those involved. A number of delegates have been identified including Divisional Manager, Stream Managers, Work Stream Supervisor, Tenant Liaison Officer, Business Improvement Champions, representatives from within the Supply Chain and two representatives from Wolverhampton Homes.

The Pilot presents an exciting opportunity to be one of the first recipients of the BIT NVQ within the Construction sector. Not only will it support the improvement of operations and performance on the Decent Homes program, it will help build a valuable skill set in the area of continuous improvement. The LSC are very keen to see the successful development of the BIT NVQ as being a well recognised and regarded qualification within the Construction sector

The NVQ has been designed to look at processes that are already in place and aim to continually improve them. It will cover areas such as thorough diagnosis of the current situation and the application of a proven structured approach to deliver real, tangible improvements in quality, programme, cost and Customer satisfaction. The candidates will develop new skills in the areas of the Philosophy of Continuous Improvement, Process Diagnosis, Workplace Organisation and Logistics, Visual Management, Collaborative Planning and Project Management.

The day was a great success with many enthusiastic discussions that raised ideas of how the training will produce effective changes in the Wolverhampton Decent Homes Programme. Already targets have been set to continuously reduce the lead time of 25 days on the completion of a property to 20 days over the next 3 months and increase Quality performance from 80% to 95% right first time over the next 6 months.

Between 18-20 candidates have stepped up to the plate, and it is clear that this process and new qualification will produce dramatic changes to the Decent Homes Programme.