Sector Priorities Fund Pilot case study

August 2011

First person to complete training under SPF - Sian Martin, NFoPP Sale of Residential Property

Sian Martin is 23 and is the first person to complete the NFoPP Sale of Residential Property Award under the Sector Priorities Fund Pilot (SPFP) programme in Wales.

Her employer is Caerphilly estate agent Homehunters, who successfully applied for the funding through Asset Skills, the Sector Skills Council for property. Sian is a Sales and Lettings Negotiator for the firm.

"The course covered all sorts of interesting things such as structural side of property like what suspended floors are and the different types of windows as well as indepth information on the legal and legislation side. I feel much more confident in what I'm doing now - when I say things I have the knowledge to back it up."

Sian graduated from university in 2009 having studied French and ancient history. Initially she wanted to work in museum curating but after three months searching for work, she found a job in estate agency. She was pleased to discover part of her new job involved looking at interesting old relics.

"I do really enjoy this work and love seeing the different aged properties and their construction and style. I also like valuing properties and the interaction with people, as well as the day-to-day tasks."

Sian, who lives in Merthyr Tydfil, spent seven months studying for the award with 14 other learners from different estate agents. Her course involved two hours a week in evening classes held at the Ystrad Mynach College and the rest she did in her own time with her NFoPP learning manual. She took the exam in March and has now started the NFoPP Award in Lettings.

The SPFP programme is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government through the European Social Fund. A further 230 candidates working in facilities management, property and housing are studying for various training programmes with SPFP funding.

"I liked the way the course was taught in an informal way - I think it helped aid the learning. The teacher would read through something and we would discuss it. Everyone chimed in with their own experience which added to the material. It was tiring, but well worth it."