A specialist training organisation has opened up a new route to employment for its students through a new partnership with a West Yorkshire utilities company.

Trades training company Brookhouse Training in Cleckheaton has entered a partnership with Trojan Utilities, which has operations in West Yorkshire and Lancashire, to provide training programme that meets the needs of the national Smart Meter roll-out in 2015.

Brookhouse Training is playing a key role in Trojan’s recruitment strategy by providing qualified candidates as work-ready employees. In the past month, Trojan has employed three Brookhouse trainees on a full-time basis, with a commitment to take on more.

Daniel Coleman, Trojan Utilities business manager, said: “People are our business and we put a lot of time and energy into ensuring we have the best people working for us.

“Working with Brookhouse Training is a partnership developed through our need for high quality engineers. We know Brookhouse put the time and effort into each and every candidate to ensure they are skilled, knowledgeable and ready for the job.”

James McConnell, director at Brookhouse Training, said: “This is just the beginning of a long strategic working partnership. Around 30 million homes and small businesses will be part of the national switch to smart meters.

“Vital to the logistical success will be experienced, competent engineers and operational managers, and our unique partnership provides that.”

Trojan is looking to operate nationally providing services including the installation and maintenance of both smart and traditional domestic gas and electric meters.

Brookhouse Training is committed to the Sector Skills Council, Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills), policy of ensuring a future supply of relevant skills to the crucial energy and utilities sector.

Brookhouse Training is the UK’s leading gas, plumbing, training and assessment specialist offering practical learning at a state-of-the-art training centre.

In April, Brookhouse Training said nearly all newly-qualified gas engineers it had coached had found jobs over the past 12 months.

Mr McConnell said: “It has become increasingly important for us to quantify how our training impacts in the real world after our trainees have qualified. In the past 12 months, 142 Brookhouse gas trainees qualified as Gas Safe registered engi-neers and from our research 95 per cent went on to find work within the domestic gas sector.”