Construction trade skills, like plumbing, always tend to come top of surveys for traditional careers with long term, solid prospects. As Britain continues to climb out of recent recession, and faced with economic cost cutting ahead, many are taking opportunity to reconsider their career prospects or have been forced to do so as a result of company downsizing.Many of the UK's most reputable training centres like AbleSkills have, since the downturn, been on the receiving end of the demand for retraining by all those looking to get a first rung on the industry ladder by enrolling on the popular NVQ 6129 level 2 course in plumbing.The recent slowdown in construction, which meant a large drop in the number of newly qualified trade skills, has recovered and it is estimated that the country will need at least 4,500 additional plumbers to train each year in the years leading up to and beyond the 2012 Olympics in order to cope with the growing demand for their skills.Obviously this means that at the present time there is quite a shortage of qualified professionals - and an even bigger shortage of 'green' plumbers who can work on the new generation of low emission, energy systems, such as the ground source heat pumps and solar heating. High redundancy levels and the significant drops in recruitment has meant workers from all walks of life are now retraining to become a qualified plumber.A recent City and Guilds survey found that even during the recession, over 80% of plumbers were financially better off than they were in the same period in the previous year, partly due to many of the existing tradesmen retiring earlier than normal to leave a serious skills gap to fill.Plumbers are always going to be needed, especially now as the global demand for renewable energy technology gains momentum to be urgently rolled out, the specialist trade skillset is obviously, set to remain as one of the most stable and secure of all important trade services.AbleSkills, as an officially approved and accredited training centre, run a number of flexible, introductory courses and intensive plumbing courses, including Theory Distance Learning, to immediately assist with course timings and schedules for those interested to begin learning without interrupting current employment schedules.