The Skillplumb competition finalists emerging from Britain's regional heats in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been announced by SummitSkills.
Competition organiser SummitSkills, the sector skills council for building services engineering, has named the finalists for the competition, who have the chance to compete in the SkillPLUMB UK final at Interbuild 2008 on October 28-30 at Birmingham's NEC.

The finalists are:-
•Thomas Redrup (22) employed by Mark Nicholls and Barrie Pearce of Eliteheat in Ruislip and trained by JTL and College of NW London.

•James Myatt (19) employed by Tarburn Brothers Ltd in Warwickshire and trained by JTL and Warwickshire College.

•Jo Stabbins (20) employed by Aquae in Worcestershire and trained by Worcester College of Technology.

•Liam Freeguard (19) employed by NPTCBC Building Services in Neath, Wales and trained by Brigend College.

•Lee Dobbins (30) employed by Mark Forrest & Co in Colwyn Bay, Wales and trained by Coleg Llandrillo.

•Scott Reid (21) employed by DD Plumbing Services in Scotland and trained by Moray College.

• Jason Cameron (19) employed by Scotia Homes (North) Ltd. In Scotland and trained by Aberdeen College

•Christopher Lonsdale (21) employed by B-Warm Ltd in Bishop Auckland, Northern Ireland and trained by New College Durham.

•Andrew Lindsay (18) employed by Terry Stewart in Northern Ireland and trained by South West Regional College.

•Padraig Rogers (20) employed by Patrick O’Hagen in Northern Ireland and trained by Southern Regional College

To get to this stage, all candidates completed both a theory examination and a practical test based on a typical real-life work situation, involving installing pipework, valves and jointing to a high specification, and within tight timescales.

Neil Collishaw, head of skills competitions and awards at SummitSkills, said “The standard of work in the competitions so far has been extremely high. Now, to succeed in the UK final, the competitors must push themselves even further to prove they are the best of the best.”

Winners of the UK final may have the chance to compete alongside other UK team members in the WorldSkills competition. WorldSkills sets global standards in more than 40 categories, including construction and air-conditioning. The biennial event is the largest skills competition in the world, attracting competitors from more than 50 countries. The next event is in Calgary in 2009

SkillPLUMB, sponsored by APHC, BPEC and the UK Copper Board, is part of Skill M&E – three skills competitions that seek to identify the finest mechanical and electrical engineers in the building services engineering sector.

Skill M&E also incorporates SkillELECTRIC for the electrical industry and SkillFRIDGE for the refrigeration and air conditioning industry. SummitSkills is currently developing a new competition for the Heating and Ventilating industry.