Located in the West Midlands, Walsall College is the largest further education institution in its borough, providing excellent facilities and training for people of all ages and abilities.
To ensure Walsall College continues to deliver the tuition it is renowned for, a new plumbing and heating provision for adult and apprenticeship programmes was recently created, with Alpha Heating Innovation’s market-leading boilers taking pride of place.
Walsall College required a training facility which could train up to 12 apprentices in one area, ensuring each student had a dedicated bay to work from.
After contacting a number of manufacturers, the college decided upon Alpha’s impeccable service and trusted boilers. One of the college’s main requests was to implement a single-branded heating system which would offer a range of both system and combi boilers to suit the standardisation and needs of the project.
For this reason, Alpha supplied its sector-leading combi and system boilers, notably the energy-efficient, highly compact E-Tec Combi. Alpha’s system boilers were installed for the apprentices to use, whereas the combi boiler was supplied purely for demonstration purposes.
All boilers were installed on original systems, and the apprentices installed all the new pipework. During installation, the apprentices didn’t encounter any issues and performed the work well with the help of Alpha’s comprehensive installation instructions.
Speaking on the experience with Alpha’s team and its boilers, Graham Neale plumbing and gas lecturer at Walsall College, said: “Working with Alpha was an utter delight, and the entire process was seamless.
“In terms of project delivery, there were time constraints. The training provision was already up and running, which meant we had to source suppliers quickly. Alpha’s Area Sales Manager, AJ Kalirai, went above and beyond; using his expansive industry contacts to source other manufacturers’ products that we needed to finish the project. The college was extremely impressed with Alpha’s ability to accommodate the project’s requirements, investing time and effort into fulfilling each and every request.”
When it came to ease-of-installation, fellow gas and plumbing lecturer, Mark Dymond, was extremely impressed. “The boilers were installed by our apprentices working towards their Level 3 gas qualifications, and were signed off by myself and Graham who are Gas Safe registered engineers. The boilers have a lot of flexibility in terms of installation, and Alpha’s kit proved to be extremely helpful when deciding which ways to connect the pipework to the boiler. Alpha’s system boilers in particular are ideal for the type of assessments the apprentices have to do. Using Alpha’s system boilers, the apprentices have already completed three assessments successfully. In the future, there is no doubt we will consider Alpha’s products. They are the perfect partner for Walsall College.”
Comprising state-of-the-art equipment to guarantee the very best apprenticeship experience, it is fair to say the addition of Alpha’s market-leading boilers will bring both warmth and opportunity for old and new Walsall College students.