News

Success at World Skills UK Live 2019

The UK's best young apprentices and students were crowned the nations' No.1 in a glittering ceremony in Birmingham on Saturday 23 November 2019.

WorldSkills UK LIVE, at the NEC Birmingham, which attracted more than 80,000 young people gearing up for a vocational pathway to work, was the backdrop for the all-important National Finals of WorldSkills UK’s Competitions.

More than 500 apprentices and students competed in over 70 different disciplines – battling to be the best in the UK.  Taking part in WorldSkills UK Competitions equips young people with the world-class skills needed to help UK businesses better compete globally.  
Those taking part in the competitions were also hoping to secure the opportunity to represent the UK at the WorldSkills Finals, known as the ‘skills Olympics’ in Shanghai in 2021.
Northern Ireland competitors were representing construction and the built envrionment were successful in achieving 2 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals, 1 Bronze Medal and 1 Highly Commended and we congratulate them on their success.

Carpentry - Thomas Ellison - Belfast Metropolitan College - Highly Commended
Landscape Gardening - Marc Brown - CAFRE - Bronze
Plastering & Drywall Systems - Brendan Duddy - North West Regional College - Gold
Plastering & Drywall Systems - Kalem Kerrigan - Errigal Contracts - Silver
Wall & Floor Tiling - Dylan Calvert - Southern Regional College - Gold
Wall & floor Tiling - Dylan Gillanders - Southern Regional College - Silver
Wall & Floor Tiling - Aaron Gillespie - Southern Regional College - Bronze

CITB NI will host Skillbuild NI National Finals on Tuesday 19 May 2020 at their Training Centre at Nutts Corner. Skillbuild NI, run and governed by the Construction Industry and Training Board Northern Ireland (CITBNI), is held annually each spring with the region’s top local construction apprentices competing to win coveted titles in disciplines ranging from Brickwork to Wall and Floor Tiling. We look forward to seeing everyone on the day and the countdown is offically on!

The dates for the College Intercampus Competitions have now been set for 2020 as the route to gain entry into the annual two day Skillbuild NI National Final. Medal winning participants at the Skillbuild NI National Final can in most but not all areas progress to Skillbuild UK and Skill M&E National Finals with the objective of achieving UK Team membership for WorldSkills.

The dates for the Inter College Campus Competions are as follows

• 21 January 2020 South West College (SWC)

• 23 January 2020 South Eastern Regional College (SERC) 

• 28 January 2020 North West Regional College (NWRC)

• 30 January 2020 Northern Regional College (NRC)

• 4 February 2020 Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC) 

• 6 February 2020 Southern Regional College (SRC)