Federation of Traditional Metal Roofing Contractors

Building on the success of the training facilities created at the Building Crafts College in Stratford, East London, the Lead Contractors Association (LCA) and the Federation of Traditional Metal Roofing Contractors (FTMRC) are now combining their existing resources in the creation of a new Traditional Metal Roofing Academy.

The facility will be created in the new extension of the College, currently under construction and scheduled to be open by the end of September this year. It will bring together in one location the lead welding bays and fabrication model units and the roof models, tools and equipment that have been successfully introduced for hard metals courses that have previously been located in different areas around the college.

Following significant financial support from CITB ConstructionSkills through the Lead and Hard Metals Training Group, training in leadwork has been available at the BCC for the past four years, during which the LCA have played a key co-ordinating and administration role, supported by associate members Associated Lead Mills. The custom built lead welding bays and fabrication models were designed specifically to develop the hands-on skills of those wishing to learn more about working with lead sheet and the BCC lecture rooms also provided the ideal facility for teaching the strict theory and design side of using the metal that is critical to its long term performance.

As part of their own long term objectives, the FTMRC began discussions with the College during 2007, initially with a view to staging courses in zinc and copper. Although the new extension was being planned at that time, FTMRC were aware of the strong demand in their sector for training courses in the UK and so a temporary facility was created at the college and as a result the first zinc course was staged in February 2008. Again the funding support from CITB-ConstructionSkills through the Lead and Hard Metals Training Group was an essential factor in making it all happen.

Since then, thanks to the strong support of FTMRC Associate Members VM Zinc, a total of ten basic and intermediate courses have been successfully delivered at the BCC, despite the limitations of the temporary unit in which they have been held.

As a result of the strong partnership between the BCC, LCA and FTMRC, the new Academy area will enable all the existing facilities to be brought together and enhanced in order to deliver basic, intermediate and advanced courses in lead, copper and zinc and it is eventually planned to provide supplementary tuition in the installation of aluminium and stainless steel.

Courses will start at the end of September and a full programme is currently being drawn up to be published jointly by the LCA and FTMRC on their respective websites in August. Anyone wishing to receive details of the courses should contact either the LCA (01342 317888 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or FTMRC (01342 301627 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).