Ruben Duggan has won the Gold Medal and was named SkillPLUMB 2022 champion at a recent two-day WorldSkills UK final at Middlesborough College.
Employed by Powerserv and trained by Coleg y Cymoedd, Ruben can be seen in the photograph, second from the right, with the other finalists and Nic Drew of main sponsor Monument Tools.
Ruben said: “I’d been training since the HIP competition as I knew I had to really think about what I was going to do. The SkillPLUMB finals were challenging and very technical. We had to carefully follow drawings and knew the judges would be looking for accuracy with angles and bending. I was really pleased when my name was read out as the Gold Medal winner by Steph McGovern.”
Taking second place and the Silver Medal, was Sean Esslemont from McDonald & Munro Ltd, UHI Moray College and SNIPEF, with the Bronze Medal going to Royal Engineer Thomas Bentley from Mid Kent College.
In addition, finalist Charlie Oliver of Shrewsbury College and Bishton & Cowles Plumbing & Heating received a Medallion of Excellence.
A virtual medal ceremony was livestreamed on Friday 25 November in Channel 4’s Packed Lunch studios, with the medals being announced by Steph McGovern.
BPEC said it was proud to be the SkillPLUMB competition organiser, also congratulating finalists Andrew McCann, Kayne Forsyth, Andrew Reain, and Jack Forbes.
The finalists took part in an intensive two-day practical exercise. They each had to install a small sealed domestic central heating system with expansion vessel, pump, and ancillary equipment, inclusive of piped radiators, an unvented hot water cylinder and boiler, together with associated copper pipework. The task had to be completed within a strict timeframe and was marked against tough criteria including joint quality, bend angles, and measuring and marking out, which had to be accurate within 2mm.
All finalists received several prizes including two BPEC training manuals, CIPHE membership, cash vouchers, and tools and products donated by the competition sponsors, alongside a SkillPLUMB framed certificate.
Main sponsor Monument Tools provided all the finalists with a Pipe Bending Machine and McAlpine Plumbing products supplied knee pads, which were all used during the competition.