Construction students scoop top prizes at Skillbuild 22 Competition

@BordersCollege Construction department has great reason to celebrate after recent success at the Skillbuild 2022 Regional Heats, coming away with two firsts and a second place in the competition.

Students Craig Duff, Robbie Wood and Darren Boggs were representing Borders College in three separate disciplines, competing against the top talents from all corners of Scotland and the north of England.

Craig, from Gala, and a second-year apprentice who works for J S Crawford Contracts in Melrose, took first place in the Carpentry section. Darren, from Tweedbank, and a second-year Bricklaying apprentice who works for H & D Construction in Galashiels, also took first place in Brickwork, while Robbie, from Innerleithen, a full-time student studying on the City and Guilds Bench Joinery qualification, came away with a second placing in the joinery section – a fantastic achievement for everyone.

The event was a two-day experience at East Kilbride South Lanarkshire College. The students travelled up the day before the competition, accompanied by CLM Greg Steel, and stayed in a local hotel, allowing them to arrive in plenty of time on the morning of the competition.

The format of the competition was that competitors would be judged on a points system against their peers in all the facets in each discipline. The students were given a complex drawing to interpret, and from this, they had to draw out their project then measure, mark and cut materials to assemble the design specified. To make increase the pressure there was a time limit of seven hours to complete the project.

All three competitors competed to an incredibly high standard and stuck to their projects exceptionally well, producing top-quality products. The high attention to detail resulted in Borders College being the highest-ranked College in the competition.

The students will now take part in the final regional heats of the Skillbuild. Once concluded, Craig, Darren and Robbie will have to wait and see if they have accumulated enough points to go on to compete in the national Skillbuild competition, which will be held in Edinburgh later in the year.