Construction College Midlands hosts SkillBuild regional heat

Construction College Midlands is hosting the SkillBuild Regional Qualifying Heat for the Midlands on Monday 30 May, showcasing some of the region’s highly skilled learners and apprentices who are competing within a variety of construction trades.

The largest and longest-running construction skills competition in the UK kicked off in April, with the SkillBuild 2022 regional heats currently underway.

SkillBuild is delivered by CITB and forms a part of WorldSkills UK, often dubbed the ‘skills Olympics.’ There are 16 heats happening at various colleges across the UK until the end of June, covering several different trades including, bricklaying, carpentry, and joinery.

Top scoring competitors will move onto the second stage in the competition, qualifying for the National Final later this year. Due to restrictions around Covid-19 last year, qualifying rounds were held remotely at competitors’ colleges, resulting in 54 of them making it through to the National Final.

The competition takes place at a time when there is a skills shortage and demand for more workers in the construction industry is high. CITB’s recent Rethinking Recruitment report highlights the need to attract more individuals into construction, and encompassing a variety of trades, SkillBuild presents a fantastic opportunity to alter perceptions and promote the diverse range of roles available.

WorldSkills UK Deputy CEO Ben Blackledge said: “Taking part in a WorldSkills UK competition can be a life-changing experience and I would like to wish all the construction competitors the very best of luck in their heats.

“WorldSkills UK’s competition-based development programmes offer students and apprentices the chance to pit their skills against the best of the best in the UK and potentially on the international stage at Lyon in the 2024 WorldSkills global competition.”

Jonathan Chivers, CITB Director of Product Management, said: “The Regional Qualifiers are a really exciting stage in the SkillBuild competition, as it’s our first glimpse of the huge variety of skills and talent coming through to industry. From carpentry to painting and decorating, and right through to roof slating and tiling, these trainees are showcasing the very best of construction technical education, which can act to inspire many other young people.

“The competition is without a doubt a challenging experience, but CITB is hugely proud of everyone that participates and wishes them all the very best of luck as the heats get underway for this year.”

Arthur Jevons, Training Delivery Manager at Construction College Midlands said: “Roofing, slating and tiling is set to become a growth area at our college over the next few years so this is an excellent way for us to put this sector area under the spotlight.  We look forward to coming together with CITB and the National Federation of Roofing Contractors (NFRC) to support our six competitors who are all upcoming specialists in this field.”

Four Construction College Midlands-trained apprentices are taking part in the roofing, slating and tiling Midland region qualifying heat.  These include Ethan Lloyd who works for Dent Roofing Services Ltd in Willenhall and Aiden Terleckyj who works for Wolverhampton-based Roofstyle Ltd.