The UK's top young roofing talent is gearing up for the SkillBuild 2025 National Finals this November, with an outstanding Scottish competitor securing a coveted spot among the elite eight in the Roof Slating and Tiling category.

The prestigious competition will culminate at Arena MK in Milton Keynes on 19-20 November, where finalists will go head-to-head.

This year's SkillBuild saw over 1,000 students battle it out across ten distinct construction trade categories during 16 Regional Qualifiers held nationwide. Within the highly competitive roof slating and tiling category, 33 skilled individuals from 13 different colleges and training centres participated across six regional heats between April and July. The intense competition underscored the remarkable talent emerging in the roofing sector, with just seven points separating the finalists after the regional heats, and a mere four points now dividing the top seven competitors. Six colleges will be represented at the national final.

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Aidan Phee from South Lanarkshire College will represent Scotland in the national final. He joins seven other promising talents:

• Brooklyn Smith – Newcastle College

• Samuel Jinks – Leeds College of Building

• Nolan Law – Newcastle College

• Charlie Swain – Walsall College

• Corey Riordan – Exeter College

• Levente Szasz – Leeds College of Building

• Mark Knight – Simian Risk

Ben Rowlands, Technical Manager – Slating and Tiling at NFRC, expressed his admiration for the escalating standards. Having attended almost all of this year's regional heats, he commented: "I've had the pleasure of attending the regional heats the last few years and this year was honoured to be invited as a judge, and I can say the talent coming through is getting better year on year, which is a credit to the tutors and training providers across the country. It's fantastic to see six colleges make it to the finals. This speaks volumes about how far the roofing trade has come and how much our sector is committed to training top-quality roofers."

Richard Bullock, Head of Careers Products at CITB, also extended his congratulations: "The quality of participants never ceases to amaze me – I'm excited to see this year's National Finals and wish all the competitors the best of luck!" Bob Coutts, SkillBuild's Head Judge, echoed these sentiments, noting the "very high standards across the heats this year."

Organisers extended their gratitude to judges Andy Rowlands, Bob Coutts, Dale Yates, and Matt Timby, as well as NFRC Supplier Members Glidevale Protect, SIG Roofing, and SR Timber, for their invaluable support and provision of materials for all the events.