plumbing | Oil Installer

SkillPLUMB 2025 – now open for entries!

Talented student plumbers are being encouraged to enter this year’s SkillPLUMB competition. The registration window is open now and runs until 28th March. During the competition, entrants will be judged on a series of challenging practical tests in a bid to be named the 2025 SkillPLUMB champion. The event is the only industry competition aligned to the WorldSkills network; those who do well at UK level may have the chance to compete internationally at the next WorldSkills event in Aichi, Japan, in 2028. All those who register will take part in an initial practical task carried out at the competitor’s college or training provider. This work will be tutor-assessed and then the scores and evidence will be moderated by SkillPLUMB and WorldSkills UK. Those who are successful will be invited to one of the UK-wide qualifying heats taking place across May and June. The top scoring competitors from all qualifying heats combined will be invited to compete in the UK grand final which this year will be taking place in South Wales along with around 50 other WorldSkills UK national competitions. SkillPLUMB is open to apprentices and Level 2 or 3 plumbing students. The event, designed to promote and showcase high standards and skills across the plumbing industry, is organised by the BPEC Charity and has Ideal Heating as its headline sponsor. “We are proud to organise SkillPLUMB and are committed to supporting the regional, national, and international plumbing skills competitions as a means of showcasing the best in apprenticeship training,” said Neil Collishaw, BPEC Chief Executive. “Each year the quality demonstrated by our industry’s student plumbers is astounding; we look forward to the excellent standards we’ll be witnessing from competitors again this year.” The BPEC website has more information on the competition, an in-house training task to help prepare competitors, and details on the events taking place across the UK. To find out more visit www.bpec.org.uk/skillplumb Image supplied by BPEC

2024 SkillPLUMB UK Champion named after final showcases ‘unprecedented excellence’

The SkillPLUMB 2024 UK Champion and gold medal winner has been named as 19-year old David Bateman-Smith of South West College NI and Ashley McFarland Plumbing & Heating. This year’s competition, held at Oldham College as part of the WorldSkills UK National Finals, introduced a low carbon knowledge element for the first time. It turned out to be an extremely close event, with the eventual champion, David, closely followed by three jointly tied second place competitors and another three joint third place competitors. Silver medals were awarded to Shaun Wilcox of Moray College UHI and Moray Council, Elliot Julian of Cornwall College and Nicholls Plumbing & Heating, and Jackson Gill of New College Durham and CGE Yorkshire Ltd. Tied for third place and each receiving a bronze medal were Jack Fenton (Belfast Metropolitan College / Ian Reid Heating), Samuel Page (Suffolk New College / Whitwell Services) and Dillon Newton (Cornwall College / Justin Eyre Plumbing & Heating). New this year Gold medal winner David had already competed in the 2023 SkillPLUMB final and received a Highly Commended mention; he returned this year to win the Northern Ireland heat and ultimately take the top spot at the UK final last week. Across two and a half days, competitors had to tackle a complex plumbing installation task and, in a first for this year, demonstrate low carbon knowledge in a new heat pump task developed in collaboration with Ideal Heating. SkillPLUMB is organised by industry charity BPEC, and is part of the WorldSkills UK competition framework. Ideal Heating is headline sponsor and other sponsors include Muller Europe, DeWalt, APHC, JIB-PMES, SNIPEF, Monument Tools, Water Safe and CIPHE. Neil Collishaw, CEO of BPEC, said: “This year at the final we saw an unprecedented standard of excellence, with competitors demonstrating remarkable skill and dedication. It was great to see so many visitors to the competition and we are very grateful for the support from our sponsors; in particular I’d like to thank our headline sponsor Ideal Heating for incorporating a brand new heat pump module at the UK finals. “We are very proud of all eight SkillPLUMB finalists, they all performed superbly and are great role models and ambassadors for our industry.” Great interest in heat pumps Andrew Johnson, Training Director of Ideal Heating, added: “This competition is the pinnacle event for the industry. It showcases skills, encourages competitors to be the best they can be and drives up standards back in the workplace. Across our training centres currently we are witnessing great interest in heat pumps – around 70% of our training activity is heat pump related. So we were delighted to work with SkillPLUMB and BPEC this year to introduce these concepts to competitors and start raising awareness of this growing element of the industry.” SkillPLUMB is open to plumbing apprentices and Level 2 or 3 plumbing students. Next year’s competition will open in March 2025. To find out more visit www.bpec.org.uk/skillplumb Image provided by BPEC