The newly formed Balustrade and Balcony Suppliers and Installers Association (BABSI) is delighted to announce that 10 companies have joined as Founder Members to progress the Trade Body towards a full launch scheduled for 1 October 2021.
The 10 Founding members are:
Aalco Metals, B + M Architectural, Balustrade Components UK, Binks Balustrades, Express Toughening, MR Industrial Services, OnLevel, Steelo Installs, SWR Balustrade and TSA Consulting Engineers.
The balustrade and balcony sector, which has around 2,000 companies operating within it, surprisingly has had no representative trade body and therefore has no collective voice to government or representation at important standards committee meetings. In addition, there is currently no nationally recognised independent qualification or NVQ in the sector or industry Code of Practice. BABSI has been established to address these issues and raise competency levels.
A key partnership with GQA Qualifications has been established to develop both an NVQ Level 2 – Balustrading and a 1 day course ‘Best Practice in Balustrade Installation’. Successful candidates with the latter will gain a BABSI Skills Card. Mick Clayton, Chief Executive Officer, GQA Qualifications commented, ‘It is great to see a specialist part of the sector being represented by a new Trade Association. We look forward to working with BABSI to develop a route to competence through specific training and qualifications.’
The new Trade Association is headed up by experienced Association Chief Executive, Justin Ratcliffe, who spent 19 years as ceo of the Council for Aluminium in Building (CAB) where he was instrumental in developing several major industry training and sustainability initiatives. He commented, ‘We are excited to start out on the path to a full-service Trade Association that will protect, defend and promote its membership. Our BABSI Founders have enabled that journey to start and we look forward to onboarding members from across the sector from 1 October 2021.’ Further industry partnerships are due to be announced shortly.
To register interest in joining the new Association in October and being kept up to date in the meantime, please contact us.
