SYDNEY REGIONAL WORLDSKILLS
01 Nov 2009
Worldskills is a competition-based skills development initiative designed for young people in their specific industry.
In the last month there have been two landscape construction competitions to establish Sydney’s best young landscaper to represent Sydney at the National Worldskills competition, which will be held in Brisbane in 2010. The two Regional competitions were held at Ryde and Richmond TAFE.
So what is Worldskills?
Worldskills is a competition-based skills development initiative designed for young people in their specific industry. Landscape Construction is one of the competition categories that our young landscapers can compete in. The competitions run every two years, and have three main tiers:
Regional level
• Competition based in local state areas.
• Usually eight competitors per regional competition.
• Competitors get 7.5 hours to construct a landscape from a set of plans.
National level
• Competition based nationally.
• Top eligible winner from each regional competition go onto represent their region in a 3 day event, the next National competition is in Brisbane in 2010.
International level
• Competition based internationally.
• Top two eligible competitors from each national competition team up for a three-day event.
The competitors who go into the events do so to get:
• Recognition of skills
• Advancement of skill development
• Experience in construction in a competition and under pressure based environment
• Improvement of problem solving skills
At all three levels of the competition the competitors demonstrate skills that are essential to the construction of typical landscape works including:
• Plan reading and setting out
• Flexible paving (on a sand bed)
• Rigid paving (on a mortar bed)
• Brick work
• Timberwork
• Turf installation
• Plant material selection and usage
This year Sydney had two competitions – the North/East regional competition held at Ryde TAFE and the South/Western competition held at Richmond TAFE. Both competitions were a fantastic success. Results from the competitions are as follows:
North/East Competition
1st – Florian Bachler (Get Smart Landscapes)
2nd – Richard May (Good Manors Landscapes)
3rd – Reece Gilfeather (Good Manors Landscapes)
Richard May will be going to Brisbane for the Nationals in 2010. There are very strict age requirements on the competitors and even though Florian Bachler won this competition, he does not satisfy the age requirements (that is, he will be too old) to go to Internationals if he wins the Nationals.
South/Western competition
1st (Equal Gold medal) - Nick Panczyk (Landsculpt)
1st (Equal Gold medal) - Chris Naumoski (David Romberg Landscapes)
2nd (Silver medal) - Karl Newham (LPE Landscaping)
3rd (Bronze medal) - Bilal Rustom (Zac Alameddine Landscapes)
Chris Naumoski will be going to the Nationals. Nick Panczyk is in the same boat as Florian Bachler and does not satisfy the age requirements (that is, he will be too old) to go to Internationals if he wins the Nationals.
A huge thank you to the judges, support staff, sponsors (Andreasens Green, Windsor Turf, Klenall Industrial Supplies, Oasis Australia, Sydney Sandstone, and Simpson Landscapes) and the employers who enabled these competitions to be as great as they were.
For more information regarding the competitions please get in contact with Dave Walker from Ryde TAFE on 02 9448 6351or Wayne Brouwer from Richmond TAFE on 0407 256 696.
For more information on Worldskills visit: www.worldskills.com.au
Top image – Florian Bachler, Richard May and Reece Gilfeather.
Bottom image – Four of the finished landscape works.