ICE

In 2015, New Zealand had a very big problem. Construction was booming, especially in the Auckland region, and there just weren’t enough tradies to work on all those new homes and business premises. In the Auckland region most providers of plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying apprenticeship training were at full capacity, so even if they wanted to train more people, they couldn’t.

Representatives from interested PGD industry groups were asked to meet and create a solution, and Industry Connection for Excellence (ICE) was established the following year to soak up the shortfall in PGD apprenticeship training in Auckland. It was run by a charitable trust, and the trustees were all from the PGD industry. From the very start, ICE was run by people like you, for people like you.

We invited our first 70 learners on to our campus in East Tāmaki in 2017, and we welcomed an amazing 424 learners in 2021 – around 30 per cent of PGD apprentices in the Auckland region. Our training facility in Otaki, services the lower North Island. We are a hands-on, industry connected alternative to polytechnics, and the training provider of choice for many employers.

In 2021, 99 per cent of our students rated their ICE trainers as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. Quality teaching was cited by trainees as the main reason for switching to, and sticking with, ICE as their training provider. You might hear from other students that we make you work hard, and that is true. But what we also do is help you to work smart. We don’t just teach you to pass exams, we teach you to be the best you can be in your chosen career.

In 2022, ICE started enrolling and training apprentices for the Roofing industry. E-tec – an EWRB approved training provider with a proven track record of delivering and assessing EWRB programmes was made a part of ICE at the end of 2022 as a part of the RoVE transition. All students enrolling in NZQA based electrical and electronic programmes are enrolled with ICE and the qualification is issued by ICE. Find out more about E-tec.