The Stig helps shift GAI awards into top gear

Former Top Gear Stig, Ben Collins, has been announced as this year’s guest speaker at the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI) Education Awards.  

Ben will join the awards, which recognise the outstanding educational achievements of the door hardware industry, at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, tomorrow (7 November). 

Ben started his motorsport career in 1994, competing in Formula First, Formula Vauxhall Junior and International Formula 3.

Although best known as The Stig from the popular BBC show, his career exploits also include being a television presenter, author, stunt driver and World Record holder.  

The GAI Education Awards include Gold, Silver and Bronze awards for the top students in the GAI Diploma, as well as the Pinnacle Award, sponsored by Eurobond Doors, for the student with the best aggregate results over the three years of the Diploma programme.  

The GAI Diploma is designed to give students a high level of product knowledge and the ability to write accurate hardware specifications and quotations. 

The qualification is particularly suited to those in customer facing roles, contract management, scheduling and estimating, and sales.  

GAI president, Julian Newman, commented: “Scrutiny of the skills and competence of everyone in the building industry has never been higher, and each part of the supply chain needs to prove its worth.

“The GAI Diploma makes this possible in our sector – it is the only recognised architectural ironmongery qualification to British and European standards in the world. 

“As we celebrate the fantastic achievements of this cohort of students, it’s important to reflect on how far the education programme has come and to recognise the hard work of our members and committees that have shaped the course to ensure it is always relevant to today’s ironmongery professionals.”

The Guild’s education programme has been running for over 50 years, training future generations of architectural ironmongers to British and European standards.   

This year’s GAI Education Awards is sponsored by ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions; book your tickets to the 2019 GAI Education Awards, visit the GAI website

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