ACO Water Management has unveiled a refurbished 2,500 sq ft training facility designed to educate and engage builders’ merchants on how they can advise customers on selecting effective drainage solutions.
The renovated training facility is available for anyone in the construction industry to attend. It allows merchants to not only explore ACO’s portfolio of drainage solutions, but also understand the impact drainage has on construction projects as a whole.
Neil Higgins, Product Training Manager at ACO, said: “The new ACO Academy will provide an interactive learning environment which we hope will provide immersive experiences for UK merchants. As well as hosting our CPDs, we will be inviting merchants, contractors, engineers and anyone else in the construction industry to take part in hands-on product training.”
The new facility is equipped with a product display and learning zone, which can be used by groups of all sizes. To further support the training of merchants who visit the academy, water management experts will be on hand to share their knowledge and guidance, while organisations can also book the space to host a training day tailored to a specific project.
Gary Ryan, Business Development Manager at Civils and Lintels, has already visited the ACO Academy for a training programme. He explains: “We were approached by a construction company to assist their buyer with some key supply chain product training and, after asking a number of suppliers, it was ACO that had a completely unique approach.
“The ACO team were really keen to work with us to deliver a training day in the new facility. The end result was fantastic and it helped us to build strong relationships with our customer and helped their team fill any knowledge gaps.”
Additionally, the ACO Academy showcases the application of products in real-life situations and displays the complete range of elements involved in the drainage process. This allows merchants to further understand the individual benefits and applications of each product.
One of the key features of the new ACO Academy is its ability to provide organisers with the option to tailor the experience to suit their needs. It includes a number of learning environments that have the capacity to host up to 100 people at a time. A number of organisations have already announced that they will be hosting training sessions at the academy in the new year.
Higgins concludes: “In addition to ACO’s CPDs, we will be opening up the ACO Academy to other companies wishing to provide training sessions. We are already working with a number of organisations to host training programmes having previously hosted the British Merchant Federation (BMF) and the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT).”
