The SkillPLUMB 2023 UK Champion and gold medal winner has been named as 20-year old Adam Biddulph after a challenging 2-day event at Oldham College.
Adam, who is employed by Cheshire firm Meel Group and trains with Stockport College (part of the Trafford College Group) scored most highly in a complex task that involved the installation of a central heating system and hot/cold water system, incorporating a boiler, unvented hot water cylinder and associated pipework and bespoke designed copper radiators.
Taking second place and silver medal was Keshab Rana Magar of the Army Royal Engineers / Royal School of Military Engineering & Mid-Kent College, with the bronze medal awarded to Tomos Evans of Pembrokeshire College and RL Evans Plumbing & Heating.
A special ‘Highly Commended’ mention was also given to David Bateman Smith of South West College NI and Ashley McFarland Plumbing & Heating for a high-scoring performance alongside the three medal winners.
The SkillPLUMB final was one of 50 WorldSkills UK national finals being held last week across Greater Manchester. Competitors from all events along with their supporters gathered at the WorldSkills UK Medal Ceremony at the prestigious Bridgewater Hall in central Manchester, hosted by TV and radio personality Edith Bowman.
Speaking of his win, Adam said: “I’m over the moon; it’s a massive achievement and all the hard work and dedication to my job over the past few years has paid off. During the competition I just worked at my own pace and tried to ignore everything going on around me. The standard of everyone else’s work was brilliant, but I felt like I had a chance at the top three and I’m so happy to win gold.
“I’d like to thank my college tutor Steven Jackson for putting me forward for SkillPLUMB and convincing me to do it, my work colleagues and family for their support, and to everyone involved in running the competition.”
SkillPLUMB is organised by industry charity BPEC and is part of the WorldSkills UK competition framework. The event has Monument Tools as its lead sponsor and is supported by other industry sponsors including Mueller Europe, Worcester Bosch Group, DeWalt, APHC, JIB-PMES, SNIPEF, Grohe, Water Safe, CIPHE, Plumbmaster and McAlpine Plumbing Products.
Neil Collishaw, CEO of BPEC, said: “We’re so proud of our competitors this year, we’ve witnessed hard work, skills, dedication, and the ability to work to a high standard under pressure. Congratulations to Adam for his outstanding performance, but also to Keshab, Tomos, David and all the other competitors for being great role models to young plumbers across the industry.”
SkillPLUMB is open to plumbing apprentices and Level 2 or 3 plumbing students. Next year’s competition will open in February 2024. To find out more visit www.bpec.org.uk/skillplumb
Photo shows (l to r) Neil Collishaw, CEO of BPEC, Adam Biddulph, and Nic Drew, Business Development Manager at Monument Tools.