No, it wasn’t Santa’s elves: apprentices at the Thermal Insulation Contractors Association (TICA) have been getting extra Christmassy by making a tree out of insulation and cladding materials.
Apprentices Jenna Hunt, Bradley Rafferty, Anthony Atwell, Dylan Conlon, and Dylan McLean used materials to hand to create their metallic Christmas tree (complete with tinsel and baubles).
Their creativity has sparked a “tree-off” competition to challenge apprentices to explore various designs using different materials, encouraging a showcase of their skills and the creative potential within the industry.
In a Facebook post, TICA said: “Kudos to our talented workshop apprentices for tuning their creativity into a festive masterpiece!
“Their thoughtful planning, design skills and hands-on effort transformed some of our commonly used thermal insulation materials into a wonderful Christmas tree, spreading joy throughout our workplace.
“We thank our apprentices for bringing holiday cheer to the workshop with their innovative spirit!”
Speaking to Business Up North, Daniel Metcalfe, planning and resource lead at TICA, said: “We are always looking for interesting additional practical projects for our apprentices to really showcase some of their skills and a Christmas tree felt like a good opportunity to get in the festive spirit, but also apply some core techniques of designing and cutting insulation as well as some bespoke metal fabrication.”
TICA is based in the National Training Centre in Darlington and is currently the only trade body representing contractors involved in the application of hot and cold thermal insulation. The organisation trains more than 100 apprentices each year.
