46 | SEPTEMBER 2019
Skills
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
CHALLENGE YOURSELF:
BECOME A QUALIFIED DOOR HARDWARE PROFESSIONAL
Architectural ironmongers
who are keen to complete their
career to become a fully qualified
door hardware professional can
now re-enrol in the Guild of Archi-
tectural Ironmongers’ (GAI) edu-
cation programme, without having
to start from the beginning.
The Challenge Exam is designed
for those who have taken a break
during their studies of the GAI Di-
ploma (stage 3) or the Certificate
in Architectural Hardware (stage
1 or 2) training courses for three
years or more.
It consists of a short test cov-
ering all areas of the last stage of
learning that they have passed.
Once the Challenge Exam has
been passed, they can then pro-
gress to the next stage of the edu-
cation programme without having
to start at stage 1 again.
There will be two challenge
exams held this year ready for
potential students to enrol in the
2019/20 programme. Both exams
will be held at the GAI head office
in London on 14 August and 3 De-
cember 2019. Online invigilation
can be arranged for international
students who would like to take
the exam.
The Guild’s education pro-
gramme is the only recog-
nised programme in the world that
leads to a qualification in architec-
tural ironmongery to British and
European standards. It is open
to all industry professionals and
trainees across the world, not just
those within GAI membership.
There are two qualifications
available within the GAI education
programme. The Certificate in Ar-
chitectural Hardware (CiAH) con-
sists of two stages with 24 educa-
tion modules covering everything
an architectural ironmonger is
required to know.
Once this has been completed,
students may choose to continue
their studies by enrolling for the
GAI Diploma. This stage focuses
entirely on the skills and learn-
ing needed for scheduling the
architectural ironmongery, electric
hardware and key control for
a project, and is of particular
importance to those architectural
ironmongers working on projects
being built to UK and European
standards across the globe. Once
they have completed the diploma,
they become a DipGAI, an indus-
try recognised symbol of profes-
sionalism.
The 2019/20 education pro-
gramme prospectus has been pub-
lished on the GAI website,
outlining the qualifications, course
content and training support avail-
able. It also gives further infor-
mation on becoming a Registered
Architectural Ironmonger (RegAI)
through the Continued Profes-
sional Development (CPD) pro-
gramme. The programme offers
flexibility for busy professionals
and far more opportunity to gain
the CPD points.
Enrolments are open from 2
September until 20 December
2019.
For more information on how to
apply for the Challenge Exam,
email [email protected].
www.gai.org.uk
ALUMINIUM MADE REALLY EASY
REAL Aluminium continues to make a ‘REAL Difference’ for installers after developing a comprehensive
training programme for its new quoting and ordering system, which is available free of charge.
REAL has already host-
ed a successful day-long
seminar where 15 installers
were shown how to use
REAL Aluminium’s new on-
line software. The intuitive
software was developed to
make the process of quoting
and ordering aluminium
windows and doors quick-
er and easier than ever
before.
Formal feedback on the
training day revealed that
every delegate felt the
level of technical content
of the day was perfect and
rated system developer and
presenter John Harvey as
excellent.
With such positive feed-
back from the customers
who attended, REAL is now
rolling the programme out
as a flexible 90-minute
remote training course for
novices and a 45-minute lite
session for those familiar
with Window Designer
software. The training ses-
sions are free of charge and
are designed to help them
get the most of out of the
cloud-based system.
REAL Aluminium teamed
up with leading industry
software developer First
Degree Systems to create
the new online quoting and
ordering system, which al-
lows installers to quote and
order REAL products any-
time and anywhere when
they are online. Dozens of
REAL Aluminium customers
are already using the new
software to help them take
control of their quoting and
ordering, save valuable time,
boost efficiency and access
everything they need at any
time of the day.
One installer who went
along to the pilot training
session was Kim Eyres,
owner of Mendip Conserva-
tories. Kim has been a REAL
Aluminium installer for
nearly four years and has
been using the REAL soft-
ware since the beginning
of July.
“The training session
was really useful, not just
in showing us how to use
the software but also in
giving us much more tech-
nical information on REAL
products. The software was
really quick and easy to
use and we were up and
running straight after the
training. Moving to the new
software was seamless and
it’s already made a differ-
ence to the speed that we
can respond to customer
requests for quotes. And,
of course, if we do have
any issues with it, we know
that REAL will be there to
help us. I would definitely
recommend the software
and the training support to
another installer.”
www.real-aluminium.co.uk