Two apprentices from Loughborough-based contractor and developer William Davis Ltd were invited to showcase their construction skills at the international WorldSkills London event.
Chelsey White and Sam Limbert, who are both undertaking traditional plumbing apprenticeships at William Davis supplemented with day release training at Stephenson College, Loughborough, participated in the construction of an Eco House during the WorldSkills event.
For the first time in 20 years, WorldSkills took place in the UK and brought together 1000 skilled young people from across the globe to become the best of the best in seven sectors including construction. Stephenson College joined a consortium of college construction departments to build the Eco House, which was situated in Royal Victoria Square, the public open space outside ExCeL. The William Davis apprentice duo formed a team with other students from Stephenson College to install an Air Source Heat Pump and a Mechanical Ventilation Heat Recovery (MVHR) system in the Eco House to re-circulate warm air from the kitchen and bathroom back around the property. William Davis also provided all personal protective equipment the apprentices needed when constructing the project.
Brian Bradford, training and personnel manager, William Davis said: “The Eco House project presented a fantastic opportunity for our apprentices to showcase their skills at international level. Recently, William Davis apprentices have enjoyed exceptional success in similar skills-based events so it was exciting for the next generation to follow in their footsteps.
“The Eco House proved to be a great success and an excellent example of vocational skills in practice. Everyone at William Davis is immensely proud of what the apprentices achieved and hope the project serves to inspire others to a career in construction.”
Glyn Stenson, section head for building services, Stephenson College said: “The construction of the Eco House within the World Skills arena gave the students from Stephenson College and partner colleges the opportunity to both demonstrate and experience the new skills which will support future eco friendly building projects. This unique opportunity gave students great pride in showcasing green energy products and installation techniques and the commercial support, sponsorship and excellent partnership approach we enjoyed with William Davis was greatly appreciated.”
Aidan Jones, executive director, WorldSkills London added: “The huge range of showcasing ideas that poured in from colleges in the UK was really impressive. With 150,000 visitors to the WorldSkills London 2011 competition, the showcase demonstrated the widest range of skills that shape our world and were a really exciting part of the biggest, most inspirational and visual display of careers ever seen in the UK.”
William Davis’ in-house apprenticeship scheme has been running for over 65 years. The company recently employed nine youngsters as its 2011 intake.
