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Level 2 NVQ Certificate in the Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures
The Level 2 for the fabricator who makes the frames: uPVC, aluminium or timber windows, doors, conservatory frames and curtain wall components, assessed on the orders you are already building on the shop floor. Awarded by GQA, who also issue the Blue card if your work takes you to site. No college and no exam.
Why candidates choose Acadame
What makes our Level 2 NVQ Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures different
About this qualification
The Level 2 NVQ Certificate in the Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures is the recognised qualification for the fabricator who makes window and door frames, sashes and units, conservatory frames and the components that go into curtain walling, in uPVC, aluminium or timber. It is not taught. It records, against the national occupational standards, the fabrication you already do: setting up the tools and machinery, handling the profile and the components, cutting, machining and processing, joining and assembling, coating or spraying, checking the quality, and packing and storing the finished frames.
It is awarded by GQA Qualifications, the awarding organisation for the glass and fenestration industry and, since 2017, the body that issues the CSCS card for those trades. GQA aim it at the fabricator who works mainly in a manufacturing environment, and also at the one who goes to site to fabricate or to apply spray finishes. It is a Certificate rather than a Diploma, so it is smaller than the installation Diplomas: five mandatory units and options worth at least 11 credits, 25 credits in all. There is no pathway to choose. The options are what makes it fit your shop floor: a cutting and machining operator, a welder and cleaner, an assembler and a paint shop sprayer each evidence different ones.
Assessment is a portfolio of photographs, cutting lists, job sheets, quality check sheets and witness testimony from your own orders, an observation of you fabricating and a professional discussion with your assessor, most of it from your phone and by video call. There is no fixed duration: you register any week and finish as quickly as your orders produce the evidence.
- Nothing new, if you are already fabricating to a commercial standard. The qualification records what you do rather than teaching it
- How to evidence fabrication properly: what a photograph at each stage, a cutting list, a quality check sheet and a witness testimony from your production manager each prove
- Which options your shop floor already produces, cutting, processing, joining, assembly, coatings, spraying, packing or site fabrication, and which give you the most credits for the least effort
- Where the Level 3 sits, and whether setting the machines up and sorting the problems already points at it
How completing this qualification helps you
- The Level 2 NVQ Certificate in the Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures, certificated by GQA with the units you evidenced
- Eligibility for the Blue Skilled Worker card, issued by GQA, once you have passed the CITB Operatives test, for the fabricator whose work takes them to site
- A temporary CSCS card on registration, in case you need one while you complete
- A Level 2 that never expires and stands as the industry's proof that you can fabricate to the standard, for employers, the quality schemes your factory works under and your own next move
Who is it for?
Window and door fabricators, uPVC and aluminium fabricators, framemakers, conservatory and curtain wall fabricators, welders, cleaners, glazers and beaders, paint shop sprayers and the fabricators who go out to site to fabricate or spray, who learned on the shop floor and hold no formal qualification. If you load, move and pack but someone else fabricates, talk to us first, because you need enough of your own work to evidence.
Entry requirements. There are no formal entry requirements. What you do need is live fabrication work to evidence from, because every unit is assessed on real orders: your photographs, your cutting lists and job sheets, your quality checks, your production manager's word. Most people are assessed on their normal shift. The initial assessment below confirms this before you pay anything.
Ready to find out if you qualify?
The initial assessment takes a couple of minutes and nothing is typed: you click through what you do and what you can evidence, and it tells you the pathway, the level and what to gather. Or ask MB and get an answer straight away.
Initial assessment
Check you qualify, in a couple of minutes
Nothing to type. Click through what you do on the shop floor and what you can evidence, and it shows you the options that fit and the evidence your assessor will ask for. It is about what you can evidence, not a test: anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer. These answers are your initial assessment, and you can email yourself a PDF of it.
The online check needs JavaScript. Without it, tell us what you do and we will run the initial assessment with you over the phone.
What you evidence
The units behind the qualification
Five units are mandatory, worth 14 credits: health and safety in fabrication, communicating and working with others, preparing the equipment, machinery and tools, handling and positioning materials and components, and checking the quality of products. You then evidence at least 11 credits from eight options. 25 credits minimum, 162 guided learning hours, 250 hours total qualification time. It is a Certificate, so it is smaller than the Level 2 Fenestration Installation Diploma at 40 credits. Nothing is taught: each unit is evidenced from your own work.
The five units everyone completes (14 credits)
- R/600/7659 Maintain health and safety within the fabrication of glass supporting systems working environment (4 credits)
- A/600/7364 Communicating and working with others in the glass and related working environments (3)
- L/600/7661 Prepare equipment, machinery and tools for the fabrication of glass supporting systems (3)
- M/600/7667 Locate, handle and position materials or components in the fabrication of glass supporting systems (2)
- H/600/7746 Check the quality of products used in the fabrication of glass supporting systems (2)
Pick at least 11 credits from these
- H/505/2951 Cut materials for the fabrication of glass supporting systems (5)
- R/600/7743 Process materials for fabricating glass supporting systems (3)
- Y/600/7744 Fabricate glass framing and supporting systems by joining (4)
- D/600/7745 Fabricate glass supporting systems by assembly (4)
- A/600/7669 Apply coatings or treatments to products and materials used in the fabrication of glass supporting systems (4)
- J/617/4584 Apply surface coatings by spray to glass supporting systems in the workplace (8)
- Y/600/7727 Package and store fabricated glass supporting systems (3)
- A/617/4582 On-site fabrication of glass supporting systems (6)
- A cutting and machining operator usually evidences cutting, processing and packing; a welder or assembler evidences joining and assembly plus one more; a sprayer evidences the spray unit and one more
Method of assessment
How the glass fabrication NVQ is assessed
Competence based, which means no exam and no written test. You build a portfolio of evidence from the orders you fabricate, your assessor watches you work and you talk the knowledge through in a professional discussion. The online check above is your initial assessment; there is no separate skills scan.
1. Initial assessment, online
The questions you click through above are your initial assessment. They tell us which options your shop floor already produces, whether you have enough live work to evidence them, and whether setting the machines up and sorting the problems already points at the Level 3 instead.
2. Register with GQA
We register you with GQA under qualification number 500/7767/3. That registration can also release a temporary CSCS card in case you need one on site, once we have your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the right postal address.
3. Evidence from your own orders
Photographs of the frames at stages, from the profile on the saw to the finished, checked and racked unit, cutting lists and job sheets, the fabrication drawings or the system manual you work to, delivery notes for profile, glass and hardware, quality check sheets, witness testimony from your production manager, the RAMS and machine safety records you follow, the CoSHH sheets for cleaners, adhesives and paints. Your assessor tells you exactly what each unit needs.
4. Workplace observation
Your assessor comes to the factory and watches you fabricate: setting up the machine, cutting and machining to the list, welding or crimping and cleaning, assembling and fitting hardware, checking the frame and racking it, and records what they see against the standard.
5. Professional discussion
A recorded conversation about why you work the way you do. It covers the knowledge a photograph cannot show: why the machine is set the way it is, tolerances and what happens when a frame is out of square, the system manual's rules for reinforcement and drainage, what you do with a batch of profile that is not right.
6. Certificate, then the card
Internal quality assurance, then GQA issue the certificate. If your work takes you to site, pass the CITB Operatives test and apply to GQA for the Blue Skilled Worker card.
After the qualification
The card, if your work takes you to site
Most fabricators work in the factory and a CSCS card is not something the factory asks for; the certificate stands on its own. If your work does take you to site, to fabricate, to spray or to fit, the card matters, and since 2017 the CSCS card for the glass and fenestration trades is issued by GQA rather than by CSCS direct. It is the Blue CSCS Q-Card, it carries the CSCS logo and it is checked the same way at the gate. It needs the Level 2 qualification and a pass in a health and safety test taken within the last two years, either the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives or GQA's own test. We book the right one for you. GQA issue their own CSCS cards, so the certificate and the card both come from GQA, and the card carries the CSCS logo and is read on site like any other.
You do not have to wait for the certificate to be on site. GQA issue a temporary CSCS card as soon as we register you, in case you need one while you complete, and post it to you direct. We pick up the cost. You give us your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact postal address, because GQA send it once and we will not pay for it twice if the address is wrong. It is not a free Blue card: it lasts up to twelve months and the Blue card follows the certificate.
- CITB Health, Safety and Environment test, Operatives level, booked with us, if you need the card
- Blue Skilled Worker card application, which we make to GQA for you, valid five years
- Temporary card on registration, in case you need one, posted by GQA
- The Level 3 Fabrication next, if setting up, quality and the technical problems are already yours
Level 2 NVQ Fabrication of Glass Supporting Structures FAQs
No. There is no classroom and no exam. Everything is assessed on the frames and units you already fabricate, through photographs and documents from your own orders, an observation of you working and a professional discussion with your assessor.
As long as you take. There is no fixed duration, no cohort and no term dates: you register any week and the qualification is led by you. A busy shop floor produces most of the evidence in a few weeks, and someone with a phone full of photographs from recent orders can be quicker.
Only if your work takes you to a construction site: to fabricate on site, to spray, or to fit. In the factory nobody asks for one and the certificate stands on its own. If you do need one, GQA issue the Blue Skilled Worker card against this qualification, as the Blue CSCS Q-Card, once you have passed the CITB Health, Safety and Environment test for Operatives within the last two years, then the card application, which we make to GQA for you. The Level 3 gets the Gold Skilled Worker card.
Yes, in case you need one. GQA issue a temporary card as soon as we register you and post it to you direct, at our cost. We need your HS&E test result report, a passport style photograph and the exact address to send it to. It is not a free Blue card: it lasts up to twelve months and the Blue card follows the certificate.
The ones your shift already produces. You need at least 11 credits from eight options. A cutting and machining operator usually evidences cutting (5), processing (3) and packing (3). A welder or assembler evidences joining (4) and assembly (4) plus one more. A paint shop sprayer evidences the spray unit (8) plus one more. A fabricator who goes out to site evidences on-site fabrication (6). The initial assessment on this page works it out from what you click, and your assessor confirms the list on registration.
Photographs of the frames at stages, from the profile on the saw to the finished, checked and racked unit, cutting lists and job sheets, the fabrication drawings or the system manual you work to, delivery notes for profile, glass and hardware, quality check sheets, witness testimony from your production manager, the RAMS and machine safety records you follow, and the CoSHH sheets for cleaners, adhesives and paints. Your assessor maps each one to a unit and tells you what is missing.
You carry on from the next order. Evidence can come from more than one job and your assessor plans the units around what your next orders will produce. Anything you cannot evidence yet is something we plan with you and your employer, and the initial assessment shows it before you pay.
Yes. Fabricators can be invoiced and can put a whole shop floor through as one booking, Level 2 and Level 3 together. A CITB grant may be available to CITB registered employers, and we check what applies before you commit. Self employed fabricators pay direct, with interest free instalments if you want them.
£850 + VAT. That is the whole qualification: registration with the awarding body, your assessor, the visits, the portfolio and the certificate. There is no separate exam fee and no course fee on top, because there is no course to attend. The CSCS card is applied for separately and CSCS charge their own fee for it.
Yes, and for a fabricator already making the frames and supports that carry glass that is the normal route. There is no set length. You are assessed on the work you are already doing, so the pace is set by how quickly the evidence comes together rather than by a timetable. People who already have photographs, job records and a supervisor who will sign a witness statement often finish inside a few weeks. Nobody is held back waiting for a term to start.
Your assessor comes to you, on your own jobs, in your own working week. They watch you set up and run the work, take photographs, ask you why you did it that way, and record it against the units. Between visits you upload evidence and your assessor tells you what is still missing. There is no college, no classroom and no written exam.
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Putting several people through?
One assessor and one invoice for the whole team
Group registrations are common on frameworks and large sites. We assess on site so nobody leaves the project, and we handle the awarding body, the certificates and the cards in one place.