Skillbuild is an event that happens every year, and you have plastering apprentices competing to be crowned the UK’s best plastering apprentice. I have been a couple of times now and have also had the pleasure of going to some of the regional finals earlier on in the year.
The Skillbuild finals were held again at the NEC and were a part of the Skills Show which is here to help young people get on the right path for their future careers. It’s a great event to be honest, and as long as you can put up with gaggles of screaming over excited children high on Haribo and Coca Cola then you will have a great day out.
This year I was a bit late getting to the event because I had a couple of early-morning meetings to attend and had to battle my way up the M1 in rush hour, which is by no means fun at all. However, when I arrived at the NEC, I was delighted to see that it was not raining, and that I was parking on the other side of the world and so a long 10-minute walk against the flow of 1000s of screaming school kids was very much appreciated and I managed to get to the event and take a look at what is happening in the Plastering and Plastering and drywall competition areas.
The competitors of the plastering competition had a lot to get done this year, and a very intricate fibrous cast was definitely an eye-catching addition to their master pieces. Furthermore, I was pleased to see that British Gypsum had put the Magnetic plaster in the competition this year, and you all should know that I absolutely love this stuff.
Last year, the standard of plastering was good, but I was quite disappointed by the standard of beading but this year I have to say it was 100x better, and I was quite impressed and filled me with a lot of hope for the future of the plastering industry generally the standard was higher and the level of finish was very good and from what I could see from the top three competitors it was going to be a close competition, and it was anybodies for the taking.
As you can see the competitors have their work cut out and the design for the competition is very complicated, and they are marked on accuracy, cleanliness and also the quality of the finish along with many other factors. So I suppose you are wondering who won the event. So here goes…
Skillbuild 2014 Plastering Winners
Michael Turner – Leeds College of Building who won Gold in the Plastering category.
Kevin Jones From Coleg Menai won Silver
Jack Wilson from Liverpool Community College won Bronze
The Frank Eaton Trophy
The Frank Eaton Trophy was awarded to The Plasterers Forum® very own Michael Dobson and this award was first made in 2002 in memory of Frank Eaton who was a Director of Barratt Homes and was tragically killed in a car accident.
Since 2002, this award has been presented to the SkillBuild Finalist who has shone throughout the competition and proved himself or herself to be the Finalist of the Year
Skillbuild is a great event and if you are looking for a change in career and want to see what’s goes on then this is a great place to get the general idea of what a trade is all about. Congratulations to all that participated in the competition and I look forward to seeing you possibly next year at Skillbuild 2015.
