Aspiring ironmongers receive globally recognised door hardware qualification

The next generation of architectural ironmongers is celebrating its Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI) education results.

Exams were sat in 23 different countries by 355 learners. So far, 102 students have attained the Certificate in Architectural Hardware (CiAH) and 32 students have now completed the GAI Diploma this year.

The Guild’s education programme continues to grow overseas, with 49% of learners based outside the UK. There has been a particularly high number of learners in the UAE, China, India, Hong Kong and South Africa.

Rachel Tipton, manager of the GAI education programme, said: “The GAI has been providing a unique education, qualification and CPD programme for people who work in and around the architectural ironmongery industry since 1961. It’s the only recognised programme in the world that leads to a qualification in architectural ironmongery to British and European standards, and with over 60 of these standards to get to grips with, gaining this qualification is something that all our students should be incredibly proud of. We look forward to celebrating with our newly qualified diploma holders at this year’s Education Awards.”

The core of the education portfolio is separated into two qualifications. The CiAH consists of two stages with 24 education modules covering everything an architectural ironmonger is required to know, supported with eight block assessments to test the students’ understanding.

Once learners have gained their CiAH, they can continue their studies to achieve the GAI Diploma. This stage focuses entirely on the skills and learning needed for scheduling the architectural ironmongery, electric hardware and key control for a project, and is of particular importance to those architectural ironmongers working on projects being built to UK and European standards across the globe. Once they have completed the diploma, they become a DipGAI, an industry recognised symbol of professionalism.

The 2018/19 education programme prospectus has been published on the GAI website, outlining the qualifications, course content and training support available. It also gives further information on becoming a RegAI through the Continued Professional Development (CPD) programme. The programme was revamped last year to make the process more flexible and give busy professionals more opportunity to gain CPD points.

Enrolments are now open until 31 December 2018.

Download the prospectus here: www.gai.org.uk/prospectus