AT A GLITTERING awards ceremony attended by a range of roofing industry professionals, the winners of the BMI Apprentice of the Year 2024 were announced last night.

BMI Apprentice of the Year 2024 Winners

In the pitched roofing category, the winner of the BMI Redland Apprentice of the Year 2024 is Leah Stewart, apprentice at Roof & Fibre. The judges of the competition praised Leah as an excellent all-rounder, capable of proficiently handling anything asked of her and said they foresee an exciting stellar career ahead of her. Leah is a roofing student at Fife College, tutored by Brian Hutton.

Leah said, “I want to thank my employers and my lecturers at Fife College for their support, as well as the fantastic team at BMI Redland BMI UK & Ireland who pulled off this amazing event giving me an opportunity of a lifetime. I’ve really enjoyed the competition and was so impressed with the other contestants.”

In the flat roofing category, Robbie Gosden, apprentice at Taylor Roofs was declared the worthy winner of the 2024 BMI Icopal Apprentice of the Year.

The judges particularly praised Robbie for his humility, communication, and presentation skills. Robbie attends the National Construction College.

Both winners take home a cheque for £1,000 and free lifetime training at the BMI Training Academy. All contestants receive a BMI goodie bag with a range of industry-related gifts.

Leah Stewart and Robbie Gosden

BMI Apprentice of the Year 2024 Highly Commended

In Highly Commended positions are Samuel Jinks, apprentice at Dalton Roofing & Sons Ltd, and attending Leeds College of Building, tutored by Dale Yates in pitched roofing.

For flat roofing, Tommy Lee McGee of Sussex Asphalted Ltd, who attends Simian’s Warrington Roofing Training Centre, tutored by Luke O’Gorman was also Highly Commended.

The BMI Apprentice of the Year has been a prime event in the annual roofing calendar since 2018.

Roofing Careers

Praised by roofing industry employers and judges as a unique promotion of roofing as a rewarding and satisfying career, the BMI Apprentice of the Year competition takes place over two days at BMI’s training academy in South Cerney, Gloucestershire.

Roofing apprentices are tested not only on their roofing knowledge, but on wider professional skills of presentation, business aptitude, teamwork and communication skills. Apprentices often refer to the event as life-changing and judges remark on the transformative and confidence-building progress apprentices undergo during the event.

Hosted by Fraser Biles, BMI Commercial Director and Meghan Waller, Marketing Director, the awards ceremony took place at the Cotswold Water Park Hotel.

The 2024 BMI Apprentice of the Year Finalists were:

Pitched Roofing

Joe Kemp, Eastern Region Roof Training Group Ltd, Iceni Roofing Limited
Jake White, Eastern Region Roof Training Group Ltd, Schofield & Lait Roofing
Mhairi Horne, Fife College, Roof and Fibre
Leah Stewart, Fife College, Roof and Fibre
Samuel Jinks, Leeds College of Building, Dalton Roofing Co.
Cameron Larcombe, Newcastle College, Gentoo Group
Connor Wilson, Optimum Skills Limited, Alexander Sinclair
Evan Adams, South Devon College, Stormforce Roofing
Nathan McKenzie, South Lanarkshire College, C3 Scotland Limited
Tadhg Harries, South Wales and South West Roofing Training Group, RSM Roofing

Flat Roofing

Robbie Gosden, National Construction College, Taylor Roofs
Jack Ranger, SIMIAN, ASHLEY CONTRACTORS LTD
Tommy Lee McGee, SIMIAN, Sussex Asphalte Ltd
Leigh Bourne, SIMIAN, ARC Group
Matthew Nichols, SIMIAN, MIDLAND ROOFING SERVICES (DERBY) LIMITED
Corran Smith, Juniper, RIO ASPHALT & PAVING CO. LIMITED
Jake Jones, Langley Training Services, Lynx Waterproofing Ltd
Carter Miller, Langley Waterproofing, Amber Construction Services

>> Read more about BMI SOTY 2024 in the news

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