August 9, 2023
SkillPLUMB UK Finalists confirmed

The eight student plumbers who will be taking part in the SkillPLUMB UK final after excelling at the national qualifying heats have been named:
Top row L-R
- David Bateman-Smith – South West College NI / Ashley McFarland
- Adam Biddulph – Stockport College / Higgins Lab-Chem Plumbing Ltd
- Tomos Evans – Pembrokeshire College / RL Evans Plumbing & Heating
- Morgan Finney – Northern Regional College NI / Hanna Mechanical
Bottom row L-R
- Finlay Macaulay – Moray College UHI / ALPAH Ltd
- Paul Marshall – West College Scotland / SNIPEF / James Frew
- Andrew Poland – St Helens College / Glennon Plumbing Services Ltd
- Magar Rana – Army – Royal Engineers
All will now go head-to-head on 15-16th November at Oldham College as part of the WorldSkills UK National Finals, where 50 competitions will take place at nine different venues across Greater Manchester that week.
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 Muller Europe, Worcester Bosch Group, DeWalt, APHC, JIB-PMES, SNIPEF, Grohe, Water Safe, CIPHE, Plumbmaster and McAlpine Plumbing Products.
In the quest to be named SkillPLUMB champion, competitors will have to tackle a complex task that involves 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.
“We are really pleased with the standard of all competitors, everyone who took part should be really proud of themselves,” said Neil Collishaw, BPEC CEO. “We’d also like to personally thank all of our sponsors, without their support we would not be able to run the competition. We look forward to seeing the eight competitors go head-to-head in November at the SkillPLUMB UK Final and wish all of them the best of luck.”