Contestants in the 2013 HIP! National Plumbing Apprentice of the Year Competition will soon be getting to grips with the leading UK radiator manufacturers products in the six regional plumbing college heats that will begin on 5th February.
Stelrad Radiators has agreed to sponsor the radiators – 72 of them – twelve at each regional event, all 500mm wide by 450mm high, as part of the practical part of the competition that will eventually see the winners at each regional event taking each other on in the national final, with the winner going on to compete in SkillPlumb and possibly from there on to WorldSkills.
Celia Matthews heads up HIP! and organises the awards: “We’re really grateful to Stelrad for providing the radiators for us. It’s no small task to put together the necessary hardware to allow us to mount this competition and we rely heavily on companies like Stelrad to help us make the competition as important and impressive as we can.”
Lorraine Hawes from Stelrad says the company is pleased to be able to help: “We recognise the importance of this competition in the industry and we’re delighted that these aspiring young plumbers will be getting to grips with our radiators as part of the competition. Most heating engineers and installers in the UK are working with our products pretty much every day of their working lives and the sooner they get to realise that working with quality products is a major part of providing a quality service to their customers, the better it is for the future.”
The competition is in its fifth year and has become an important stepping stone for the leading apprentices across the UK to find their way into work. HIP! Runs the competition in association with the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) and SummitSkills. Stelrad is mixing with good company in its support for the competition – others in the industry that are supporting the competition include Gold Sponsor Plumbfix, Silver sponsor UK Copper Board, Pegler Yorkshire, KME Yorkshire, Monument Tools and Irwin Tools.
The Stelrad radiators used in the competition will be donated to the colleges after the competition for on-going use in their workshops as they train future generations of heating engineers and plumbers in the months and years ahead.