A SWINDON College student has made it through to the finals of a national bricklaying championship.

Viktor Sukharyev won the senior level of the Guild of Bricklayer’s south-west heat.

He’s studying a Level 2 Bricklaying Apprenticeship at the college while completing his GCSEs, and hopes to continue with a Level 3 qualification in the future.

The event was held at Swindon College, where several schools from across the region competed for a place in the final.

The best young bricklayers from Bridgewater and Taunton College, City of Bristol College, Cornwall College, Petroc College, Swindon College and Wiltshire College went head-to-head during the day-long competition.

Each contestant had to complete a bricklaying task for each level, with a different task for the junior and senior categories.

Students were hard at work all morning before their efforts were judged by two experts.

The competition began at 9am and went through to 2.30pm for the juniors, and 3.30pm for the seniors.

After that, the two judges from Bridgend College had the difficult task of assessing each person’s work and picking the winners.

One of the judges, Phil Van-Roberts, said: “The quality of work produced at this event today was one of the highest quality I have seen for a while.”

Kevin Harold, president of the Guild of Bricklayers, said: “The quality of work was extremely high today.

“The surprise of the day was Wiltshire College’s student Shaynee April Rose David, who did not complete the task but still managed to be awarded second place in the junior category because her standard of work was so high.”

The winners of each category will now go forward to the national final, which is being held on Wednesday, June 27 at Brooklands College in Weybridge, Surrey.

The students were presented with tools and equipment from local sponsors Kellaway, Tilgear, and OX before they got to work.

Wienerberger and CPI Euromix donated the building materials used in the competition.