Construction Apprentices Put Their Skills To The Test In The NW

After achieving gold, silver and bronze medals at WorldSkills 2011, the search for the top construction apprentices has started again, with a hundred competitors from all over the Province testing their skills at Skillbuild 2012 at North West Regional College, Limavady.

Skillbuild NI is held annually eachspring, with top local constructionapprentices competing to wincoveted titles in 12 differentconstruction craft areas, rangingfrom brickwork to wall and floortiling. The winners may then go onto represent Northern Ireland inthe UK Skillbuild Finals, andpotentially the UK at WorldSkills.

The Skillbuild NI competition notonly encourages trainees toimprove their own skills, butprovides an example of the highquality work being produced intraining organisations and collegesacross NI. The Skillbuild testpieces are designed to challengethe ability of apprentices, testingskills within tight timeframes andthe competitors are beingcontinuously assessed throughoutthe two-day competition.

The competition has the support oflocal construction employers, whosponsor each category, and hasthe overall support from CITB-ConstructionSkills NI, Construction

Employers Federation, Departmentfor Employment and Learning,Haldane Fisher, Snickers Workwearand Colleges NI.

Commending the competitors ontheir hard work and dedicationshown in their area of expertise,Catherine Bell, Deputy Secretaryfor the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) said: “Skillscompetitions help to encourageexcellence and raise standards oftraining. With the recent successof Northern Ireland competitors atWorldSkills London, the quality ofour professional and technicaltraining is recognised worldwide.”“The Skillbuild NI competitionallows our young apprentices todemonstrate that they have thehigh level of skills which oureconomy needs to stay competitive.”

David Cooper, Chairman ofSkillbuild NI, said: “The SkillbuildNI national competition is a superbevent which enables participantsto benchmark themselves againsttheir fellow competitors in NI.

“The next WorldSkills event is tobe held in Leipzig in Germany inthe summer of 2013, and we arehopeful we can achieve the sameoutstanding result that NIcompetitors achieved in 2011. Wehad the best medal haul of all theUK regions, with a gold medal inbricklaying, silver in landscapegardening and a bronze inrefrigeration and air-conditioning.Two out of the three WorldSkillsmedal winners progressed to thisstage via Skillbuild NI which firstshowed their potential of talentwithin their trade.”

Seamus Murphy, Principal andChief Executive of North WestRegional College added: “It is anhonour to host this prestigiouscompetition at our GreystoneCentre. The College is committedto supporting Skillbuild and wewere delighted to provide 100young people, embarking upontheir construction careers, theopportunity to showcase theirskills.

“This competition demonstratesthe excellence in constructionskills training in Colleges acrossthe province and I wish all thewinners every success as they goon to represent Northern Ireland inthe UK and further afield. Theirsuccess is a credit to the lecturersand employers who have beensupporting them in advance of theintense competition.”