IAPMO and GROHE work with local French schools to increase the social impact of WorldSkills Lyon 2024

With just a few days to go until the start of the 47th WorldSkills Competition, IAPMO and GROHE are putting the finishing touches to a social impact project that will equip a school in Lyon with a new washroom and the chance to develop hands-on skills.

This latest “Plumbing Champions” initiative has emerged out of the growing partnership between IAPMO and GROHE, who first worked together at WorldSkills Competition Special Edition 2022. The upcoming collaboration in Lyon will link IAPMO’s IWSH Foundation and GROHE’s GIVE programme, both active supporters of skills development to bring clean water and sanitation to communities.

To get the project off the ground, IAPMO and GROHE connected with the BTP CFA Rhône apprenticeship centre earlier this year, home to GROHE’s GIVE facility in Lyon. This Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) school in Dardilly, approximately 5km north of the city of Lyon, offers local students the chance to build careers in a huge variety of skilled trades from Civil Engineering to Structural Work, Construction, Electrical, and, of course, Plumbing.

Introductions following Competition Preparation Week in February allowed the two Global Partners to understand where they could support ongoing training at BTP CFA Rhône, and together with local instructors and senior management, they saw a unique opportunity in the renovation of an old washroom at the school. By repurposing fixtures and fittings from the Plumbing and Heating skill competition at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, this collaborative education and training project will help BTP CFA Rhône bring back to life a disused space in one of their workshops and give its students a chance to test out their skills on a live project, all while also enhancing their own learning environment.

In the past year, IAPMO and GROHE have run similar social impact initiatives connected to WorldSkills national competitions in Australia and Ireland with great success, and together, we are hopeful that this latest project will leave yet another positive legacy for the local area. Seán Kearney, Managing Director of IAPMO’s IWSH Foundation, reflects, “WorldSkills Lyon 2024 will be an unforgettable experience for Competitors, Experts, and visitors, but we also want the impact of the Competition to reach far and wide in the community.”

He continues, “This project offers so much – it is a real-world test case for students to work on together and learn from, it will repurpose and extend the life of materials left over from the Competition, and it will leave the school with better facilities than when we first arrived. For students and staff it will be an activity and outcome that will be associated with the excitement and experience of WorldSkills Lyon 2024 for many years to come.”

To build on the opportunity for knowledge-sharing, BTP CFA Rhône students and teachers have been invited to join in with events during WorldSkills Lyon 2024. On the second day of the Competition, IAPMO and GROHE will organize a special visit for international guests to the school, providing a tour of the renovation project area and opportunities to network with the team on-site.

In return, BTP CFA Rhône students and trainers will come to Eurexpo to watch the Plumbing and Heating Competitors in action and participate in the World Plumbing Council general members meeting, an additional industry partnership connected to the Plumbing Champions programme. IAPMO and GROHE will also be promoting the social impact project at their booths, located next to the Plumbing and Heating competition, for the duration of the event.

The project itself is scheduled to begin the week after WorldSkills Lyon 2024 when infrastructure from the Competition will be dismantled and delivered to BTP CFA Rhône. Of the 26 sets of fittings that GROHE is supplying for the Plumbing and Heating skill competition, several of each will make their way to the school and be used in the renovation of the unused male bathroom: turning it into a brand new washroom for males and females, to include new toilets, showers, and handwash basins. Any further materials needed to complete the renovation in the following weeks will be provided and sponsored by IAPMO and the World Plumbing Council.

Remaining fittings from WorldSkills Lyon 2024 that are not needed for this project will be stored by the GROHE team in France, with the intention that other schools can use these resources in similar renovations that enhance student training once they see the impact and benefits of this initiative with BTP CFA Rhône.

To learn more about the project and sustainability and social impact initiatives at WorldSkills Lyon 2024, follow @WorldSkills on X for more updates.