Electrician Alex Rendall has been awarded a prestigious Medallion for Excellence after an outstanding performance at the WorldSkills 2023 competition in Salzburg, Austria.
Alex, who works for J Norris Electrical Contractor in Somerset, went up against 23 other electricians from around the world in an extremely complex design and installation project which included the wiring of a control panel and programming of various building automation functions. To meet the international skills standard and specification, Alex also had to train and work with materials and techniques not normally encountered in the UK.
After ranking in 6th place globally, Alex received the special Medallion for Excellence which is only given to the top performers alongside the gold, silver and bronze medal winners.
National Electrotechnical Training (NET) has been charting Alex’s success since he competed in the SkillELECTRIC competition, organised by NET, in 2019. SkillELECTRIC is part of the WorldSkills competition network which meant that following his performance in the 2019 SkillELECTRIC final, Alex started a journey which culminated in him being selected to represent the UK electrical industry as part of ‘Team UK’, at WorldSkills 2022.
In the run up to the competition in Austria, Alex underwent a rigorous training regime with WorldSkills training expert, Geoff Shaw, to meticulously plan and practice the various elements and skills needed to compete at international level.
Speaking of his experience, Alex said: “It was fantastic, just being able to get up there and collect the medal, to walk away with something for my efforts. It was really nice to be able to stand there with my flag on the stage, it felt really special.”
“It’s been a big process, a three-year long process, and I just want to thank everyone for their support; my boss James Norris for giving me the time off work, my family for supporting me through everything I needed, and Geoff, who’s just a legend, training me, picking up the phone to speak to me whenever it was needed. So thank you to everyone really.”
Alex now has the potential to compete at the EuroSkills 2023 event which is set to be held in Gdansk, Poland, whilst the next SkillELECTRIC competition will open for entries next February. Those who perform well at SkillELECTRIC may be eligible to compete at future EuroSkills and WorldSkills events, the next being WorldSkills 2024 in Lyon, France.
To find out more about SkillELECTRIC visit www.skillelectric.org.uk
