Interior Design Apprenticeship Update

The BIID held a round table event yesterday, to support the work of the Trailblazer Group who are developing the soon to be launched Interior Design Apprenticeship.

The Process of Creating an Apprenticeship

In the UK, any new government accredited apprenticeship must gain approval from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, an arms length body of the Department for Education. The first step is for a group of employers in the industry – the so-called Trailblazer Group – to develop an Occupational Standard. This Occupational Standard covers the duties, knowledge, skills and behaviour expected of an interior designer. 

An Interior Designer Apprenticeship

The interior design Trailblazer Group formed in 2023 and published the draft Occupational Standard for consultation in February 2024 – you can read that here. The aim is that the Interior Design Apprenticeship will be a Level 6 degree equivalent qualification offered to prospective apprentices across the UK. It is anticipated that apprentices will work for their employer for 4 days a week while attending training from a college or other provider 1 day a week. 

As part of the consultation process, Courteney Kiely, founder of Scene Interiors and Chair of the Interior Design Trailblazer Group met with a group of BIID professional interior designer members with experience across residential and commercial design and in large and small practices. The group discussed a range of issues including how to best inform and engage young people who might want to consider a career in interior design, how to ensure the new apprenticeship works best for both apprentices and employers and how to support micro businesses to take on an apprentice when they may not have the same staff infrastructure as larger practices. The designers present agreed that the new apprenticeship has tremendous potential to increase access to the profession to underrepresented groups and provide an opportunity for both apprentice and employer to benefit from a really hands on, practical training experience. In attendance were: Cat Hoad, Absolute Project Management, Abigail  Reay, Abigail Reay Design, Renata Drumond, Renata Drumond Interiors Ltd, Mathew Freeman, Freeman Studio, Augustine Atobatele, Studio Augustine and Debra Kacher, dkInteriors. 

The BIID will continue to support the Trailblazer Group in any way we can and we are actively looking into how we can best support our members who might be interested in taking on an apprentice when the Interior Design Apprenticeship launches.  

If you would like to register interest to be involved in future activities, email us at info@biid.org.uk.