IAPMO, a WorldSkills Global Industry Partner, is excited to support a new social, sustainability initiative at WorldSkills Kazan 2019. For the first time in the history of the WorldSkills Plumbing and Heating competition, this year’s event will result in the delivery and installation of three new toilet and wash rooms for the children of the Derbyshkinskiy Orphanage in Kazan.
Traditionally a four-day showcase, the Plumbing and Heating competition this year will instead run for three days, from Friday to Sunday. On Monday, IAPMO will direct a special collaborative Team Project, which will not be assessed.
In this team project, all international competitors and experts will work together to assemble a series of prefabricated TECEsystem sanitary wall plumbing systems. These assemblies will reuse and repurpose the equipment and materials used in the main, assessed competition Test Project of the three previous days.
These assemblies will be transported from Kazan Expo to Derbyshkinskiy Orphanage, where they will serve as new toilet and wash rooms for the young residents.
The Ministry of Building, Architecture and Housing Municipal Services of the Republic of Tatarstan nominated and selected the orphanage for this project. Built in 1976, today it is home to 176 special-needs children, who are supported by 171 staff and caregivers.
Speaking at the opening session of the WorldSkills General Assembly, IAPMO International Program Director Seán Kearney said the Plumbing and Heating competition at WorldSkills Kazan 2019 “is going to be very different from anything we have done before!”
“Planning for this initiative started over two years ago,” he said. “Several months before WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017 a group connected to the WorldSkills Plumbing and Heating competition began talking about how we could create a truly sustainable Plumbing and Heating Test Project for WorldSkills Kazan. We wanted a project that could be designed together with a local community partner before the event, built together as a team during the event, and handed over to the same local community partner after the event. We wanted the project to raise awareness of public health and hygiene, by improving water supply and sanitary conditions. And we wanted the project to demonstrate that plumbing and heating skills can change lives.”
Follow updates from Kazan via IAPMO social media and our special project hashtag #SkillsChangeLives.
Last modified: August 23, 2019