Gyproc trains to world standard

Training and technical experts from Gyproc’s Drywall Academy have been working with a group of Emirati students, to give them the drywall skills necessary to compete at world level.

Gyproc Middle East, part of the world leading Saint-Gobain Group, manufactures plasterboard-based internal partition, lining and ceiling systems at its state-of-the-art plant in Dubai, and has been largely responsible for a rapid growth in lightweight metal systems throughout the region since the plant opened in 2005.

The company has been working closely with schools and universities to spread the word about the benefits of drywall construction, a technique widely used in developed countries for the construction of high performance healthcare, education and commercial buildings. As part of this initiative, Gyproc has also been heavily involved in skills training and has worked closely with the Emirates Skills and WorldSkills organisations to establish drywall as a recognized trade in the Middle East.

Their latest mission has involved working closely with a group of four Emirati teenagers, to give them the skills needed to compete in the Drywall section of the latest Emirates Skills competition, held from May 10-12th at The Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), and in future global skills competitions.

The team of three training specialists was led by Senior Lead Systems Demonstrator Gary Condon, himself a gold medal winner in the 2011 WorldSkills competition and now one of nine members of the WorldSkills Champions Trust Committee who travels the world training in new skills and promoting the competition to young people.

Along with colleagues and fellow Systems Demonstrators, Zanoon Jamal and Alexander Homan, Gary worked with the students for ten weeks, training them to construct the set piece challenge, a 1.2 metre square partition wall, complete with ceiling section that is constructed from scratch in just 14 hours, and then judged against a whole series of very exacting criteria.

Involved in the judging were another team of three technical experts including Gyproc’s Training Academy Manager, Mike Monaghan, Draftsman Deepu Abraham and Technical Support Engineer Shashank Sripathi, who helped to evaluate the work of each of the competition entrants.

Section Gold medalist, Rashid Ali Alahi is now expected to go ahead to the next WorldSkills competition, which will be held for the first time in Abu Dhabi, in 2017.

Gyproc, which was heavily involved in promoting and sponsoring the previous Emirates Skills competition in 2015, and was voted the competition’s Best ‘Have a go Sponsor’, has a long history of training and evaluating both young people and established tradesmen in drywall systems and skills, and is expected to take on lead responsibility for training local schools and vocational colleges ahead of future Emirates Skills and Worldskills competitions.