West Nottinghamshire College has cemented its best-ever results in the UK’s biggest construction skills competition.

On Thursday the college hosted the East Midlands regional heats of SkillBuild 2014.

Aimed at finding Britain’s best trainee tradesperson it saw 102 students from 20 colleges compete in a wide range of craft-based challenges including bricklaying, carpentry, joinery, plastering, painting and decorating.

Eight of the 14 students entered by the college achieved top three positions in their respective categories – double last year’s total – with three taking the top spot.

Plastering, new entrant category – 1st place – Joshua Flanagan
Painting and decorating, new entrant category – 1st place – Stefan Hubble
Painting and decorating, senior category – 1st place – Anna Lodge
Painting and decorating, new entrant category – 2nd place – Jessica Buckley
Painting and decorating, senior category – 2nd place – Francis Hawson
Carpentry, senior category – 2nd place – Sam Bispham
Brickwork, new entrant category – 2nd place – Liam Jones
Plastering, senior category – 3rd place – Stuart Brown

The regional heats involved students working on test plans that took a day to complete, with the highest scorers from the senior categories put forward to compete in the national final.

Head of construction and building services Julian Walden said: “We’re absolutely delighted with the results from all colleges – and especially our own hard-working students at West Notts College.

“Displaying this kind of success in SkillBuild shows we’re attracting talented students who aspire to be the very best they can be in their chosen craft. This means they will stand out from the crowd and ultimately become more employable.”

Organised by the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board), SkillBuild has been running for more than 20 years as a way of recognising the importance of trainees and their skills.

Success at the SkillBuild regional heats will give entrants the opportunity to challenge for a place on the WorldSkills UK team and progress to compete at the 2015 WorldSkills competition in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Pictured back row are Joshua Flanaghan, Liam Jones, Stuart Brown and Samuel Bispham. Front are Stefan Hubble, Jessica Buckley, Anna Lodge and Francis Hawson.