Our Skills Academy prepares young people to enter the world of work. Students gain academic qualifications and complete practical projects to find and sustain future employment. Those who attend the academy to pursue a career in Painting and Decorating helped renovate St Mirren SMISA Stadium’s Club 1877.
About Kibble’s Skills Academy
The Skills Academy has an education and training centre in Hillington and additional locations at St Mirren Football Club’s stadium and training complex. The partnership with a Scottish Premiership football team lets young people complete real-life development projects in a business environment, boosting their confidence. The work experience helps strengthen their CV, helping them progress toward becoming professional painters.
The Purpose of Kibble’s Partnership with St Mirren Football Club
The partnership between Kibble and a Scottish Premiership team aims to help Renfrewshire, and the people who live in the area, to thrive.
St Mirren is a community-centred football club focused on delivering positive results on and off the pitch. By growing the club, the wider community benefits too. The club wants to deliver an outstanding match day experience to all and are prepared to invest in facilities. The decision was made to renovate Club 1877 into a stylish event space for fans. Steps were taken to transform Club 1877 into an exclusive bar and lounge hospitality venue.
Students learning trades at Kibble’s Skills Academy were to be involved in the project, helping to address youth employment and boost young workforce development.
Let’s Renovate Club 1877
Club 1877 development plans began, and Kibble Graphic Designer Michelle visualised a brand-new layout, reinventing Club 1877 into a bright, modern and unique event space.
Michelle and the design plan.
To bring the design process to life, highly skilled professionals had to work alongside one another, ensuring every detail had a quality finish. The project required collaboration between external companies as well as Kibble’s Skills Academy. Young people had the opportunity to apply their trade skills to the full refurbishment.
Painting and Decorating Instructor Paul is a mentor to students from The Skills Academy. Paul led the young apprentices as members of the renovation team.
Club 1877 was one of the biggest projects to date for the young people. Immediately, the students agreed they were up for the challenge, happy for the chance to show off their painting and decorating skills.
Instructor Paul described the important role of The Skills Academy: “A full decoration was required as the area had been extended and was to be transformed.”
“Firstly, I oversaw young people complete ames taping, which is a specialised technique that is an alternative to plastering. It is an essential task, although repetitive, yet the young apprentices were keen to get involved and remained interested. They were determined to perfect their technique and finalise the smooth surface. I explained that the time taken to ames tape would benefit the paint finish, which young people fully understood. It was brilliant to watch them see the transformation from beginning to end. Their motivation continued throughout the project as the space began to take shape as we moved through the design process.”
A highlight for Instructor Paul was seeing young people share their passion with external companies: “Young people enjoyed working with St Mirren and tying in with external companies. I was impressed with how professional they interacted with others. St Mirren Health and Safety Manager, Mark and the team from Halliday Construction as well as others, all joined in with supporting the youngsters. We worked together as we had a shared determination to make sure every detail was complete to the highest standard. There was the added incentive to show young people the value of helping create a space people enjoy being in. Everyone encouraged the young apprentices and made them feel part of the team.”
The young people involved were proud of the new Club 1877 – Paul confirmed that was clear to see: “Once Club 1877 was renovated, one of the young people involved asked me to take photos of him in the area as he wanted to show his family what we’d been working on. I found it incredibly rewarding to know the young person felt proud of contributing to the renovation.”
“The high-profile, real-life design project was exactly what young people needed to advance their skill level. Every task – whether seemingly small or significant – the young apprentices were up for trying as they knew the purpose of the task was to create a space for actual people to use.”
Instructor Paul and the students from The Skills Academy were pleased to help contribute with the transformative end result: “The before and after of Club 1877 can only be described as night and day. It began with Designer Michelle seeing the potential – her design brief gave us an understanding of the expectations and inspired us to get to work. It took patience, care and a range of trade skills but we all worked closely together to design a space we hope will be enjoyed by fans.”
The renovation project has completely transformed Club 1877 into a stylish bar and lounge hospitality venue.
Keith Lasley, Chief Operating Officer at St Mirren Football Club expressed gratitude to the young people involved in the refurbishment of Club 1877: “Their hard work, creativity and attention to detail have played a vital role in transforming the space into a modern, high-quality venue that our supporters can enjoy on match days and for private events.”
“This project reflects the strength of the partnership between St Mirren and Kibble, providing young people with opportunities to develop their skills in a real working environment while delivering outstanding results for the club.”
“My thanks go to the young people, their instructors, our professional contractors, the design team and our club staff.”
The result was an impressive transformation made possible due to help from Kibble’s Skills Academy students
Join Kibble
Now it’s your turn to make an impact in young people’s lives. Apply now to work at Kibble and build a career inspiring young people to thrive.