Outstanding Contribution to Industry

This prestigious Award is the highlight of the evening. It recognises an extraordinary contribution by an individual. The Award is given to a person who has worked in the wall and floor tile industry either over a short or long period and who has made a difference to the industry as a whole.

Winner: Dave Rowley, Training Manager of Building Adhesives Ltd

Left to right; Ian Kershaw, TTA Chairman and Dave Rowley of Building Adhesives Ltd.

The winner of this year’s Outstanding Contribution award has played a huge part in making sure the next generation of tilers have the skills and knowledge to maintain the industry’s high professional standards. After training himself at Salford College while at Hamil Tiles, Dave joined BAL in 1992 as a training assistant. In 2005, after a number of promotions, Dave became BAL’s training manager.

He has developed and delivered modular introductory courses for new people looking at a career in tiling, as well as structured bespoke training courses for the BAL and Dunlop brands to help educate the tile industry. Dave has developed and updates NVQs/SVQs and EWPAR qualifications, and is a qualified assessor and internal verifier in wall and floor tiling. He also works with colleges and independent training providers to oversee product training in line with qualification structures.

Dave has been the lead judge for the national Skillbuild finals for wall and floor tiling since 2009 and has developed and organised drawings, information sheets, materials and marking sheets for both the regional and national competitions, including competitions for Skillbuild Northern Ireland. Skillbuild is an important showcase for trainees and students and Dave’s contribution has been invaluable in raising the profile of the industry.

Dave is a member of the TTA Fixer Training Committee and last year became the chair of the TTA Supply Chain Training Committee, where he is leading a new initiative to standardise training for the supply chain, with a pilot project set to get under way in the near future. Retailers are being encouraged to take up this training to give them better skills to increase their tiling knowledge and therefore increase their capability to specify the correct products – and increase sales.

Dave is passionate about the importance of training. He says: “Training is the key to the continued success of our industry. If we all do nothing towards training, bad practices can start to happen. This will result in tiles not being used and other materials being specified instead, in turn having the impact on all of us – tile agents, distributors, retail, manufacturers and contractors will feel the effects. By working together we can all help to progress the standards of tile usage and continue to see the whole industry prosper.”