Success at SkillBuild Regional Heat 2018

On Thursday 7 June, West London College hosted the London area regional heat of SkillBuild 2018 for the fourth consecutive year.

SkillBuild, delivered by CITB, is the largest multi-trade competition in the UK for construction trainees and apprentices. SkillBuild competitions deliver ten craft occupations: Bricklaying; Carpentry; Furniture and Cabinet Making; Joinery; Painting and Decorating; Plastering; Plastering & Drywall Systems; Roof Slating & Tiling; Stonemasonry; and Wall and Floor Tiling.

West London College had 6 students competing in the Carpentry, Joinery and Plastering trades. They performed really well, and placed:

• Carpentry New Entrant
  1st – Toby Salisbury
• Carpentry Advanced
  1st – Max Dandy
  3rd – Sam Dixon
• Joinery New Entrant
  1st – Aaron Hall
• Joinery Advanced
  2nd – Nicholas Brown
• Plastering New Entrant
  2nd – Jordan Bowler

Other colleges competing in the heat included West Hertfordshire College, Brooklands College, Barnet & Southgate College, Barking & Dagenham College, East Kent College, Croydon College, College of Northwest London, City & Islington College and Hackney Community College.

Lloyd Davis, Head of Curriculum for Construction & STEM said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our talented students to display the skills that they have learnt here at West London College. We also want to thank all the students, teachers, colleges, judges and visitors that made the competition such an exciting day.”

Tibby Singh, SkillBuild UK judge and BBC Carpenter of the Year, said: “It went really well. Year after year I’m so impressed by the calibre of the students in this competition.”

Last year we had six West London College students place in the top two positions for their trades in the regional heat, with Joe Needham making the cut to head to the national finals. Not only did he win silver at the national final, but has since been selected for Squad UK to compete at WorldSkills in Kazan, Russia.

It is the end of an era for Acton Construction & STEM Centre, as this will be the last SkillBuild heat that we will host at this particular college site. However, we look forward to continuing to work closely with CITB to deliver excellent facilities for competitors at our brand-new construction college sites.

The heat also had the team from the premier radio station for builders and tradespeople, Fix Radio starting the day off well by providing bacon butties for competitors!