A HAMPSHIRE training centre has been deluged with more than 2,000 people hoping to land plum £40,000 jobs as home energy assessors.

The stampede comes ahead of the controversial introduction of mandatory home information packs on June 1, which must include an Energy Performance Certificate.

The change means every home put up for sale in England and Wales will legally need to have its energy efficiency measured, but there's a national shortfall of 6,500 assessors.

It has translated into a bonanza for New Career Skills, who have just opened a £300,000 training centre in Chandler's Ford offering a Domestic Energy course. Put together by industry experts, the six-week programme provides students with all they need to obtain a national DEA qualification - essential to land an assessor's job, which can command salaries as high as £40,000. New Career Skills managing director Trevor Dormedy said: "I have never seen anything like it. The interest has been phenomenal. We are seeing interest from a wide range of people. Estate agents, surveyors and members of the public. These are good jobs and there's a real appetite for them.

For more information log on to www.propertycareerskills.co.uk.