St Andrews Timber & Building Supplies will host the renowned Landscape Academy for two days at its Livingston branch this week.

It's the first time the Chester-based company has staged its training courses in Scotland and it identified the West Lothian facility as the ideal venue for the landmark occasion due to its abundance of space and volume of specialist landscaping supplies.

The academy delivers a number of courses based on industry recommendations on a range of subjects and the two-day programme of events begins tomorrow with a pricing and quantities course, with students learning how to correctly measure and quantify jobs in order to provide clients with accurate prices for their time and materials based on the complexity of the project.

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Friday will then see the delivery of a paving course, where porcelain and natural stone is used to demonstrate to students the correct way to build patios, join slabs with compounds and construct a competent and structurally sound base.

The courses have attracted a range of participants from across Scotland, from professionals to competent do-it-yourself enthusiasts keen to learn about the disciplines in question, with St Andrews taking the chance to upskill some members of staff by putting them through the two-day training sessions.

Managing director Ronnie Robinson said: "The Landscape Academy is a highly respected training provider and it's a proud moment for us to host their training days for the first time in Scotland.

"It's apt that the Livingston branch is the venue as our landscaping brand was launched out of there nearly 18 months ago and is performing strongly.

"We are great believers in upskilling our staff and we are putting a couple of the less experienced staff members through the paving course, which will give them a helpful insight on how the products they are selling are actually used and the 'correct way' to do things.

"This helps build our staff skills and will allow our less experienced staff to feel more confident and be in a position to offer advice and guidance on both professional and domestic landscaping projects."