WorldSkills Kazan 2019, taking place now through Tuesday at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Centre, is expected to be the largest WorldSkills competition ever held. The four-day competition began Friday and ends Monday, and the closing ceremonies will be held Tuesday at the Kazan Arena.
The competition is utilizing 75,831 square meters of space at Kazan Expo, including permanent and temporary structures, which is almost the size of Moscow’s famous Red Square. Key to the planning and organization of the Plumbing and Heating area are Skill Competition Manager Paul Dodds (UK) and Workshop Manager Stanislav Mironyuk (Russia).
Alongside his workshop management role, Mironyuk and his team of assistants have been instrumental in organizing the Plumbing and Heating Champions sustainability initiative that will see three new toilet and washroom facilities delivered and installed at the Derbyshkinskiy Orphanage in Kazan at the end of WorldSkills Kazan 2019.
Two years ago, Mironyuk — a National Project Manager for TECE Russia — was one of the founding members of the “HVAC Expert” group, an association that connects more than 120 professional plumbers and 12 plumbing manufacturers across 21 regions of Russia. Through the HVAC Expert group, the connection between IAPMO — in the role of WorldSkills Global Partner — and the Ministry of Construction, Architecture, Housing and Communal Services of the Republic of Tatarstan — which nominated the children’s home — was made.
“This project partnership with IAPMO has been very positive, for our HVAC Expert team here in Russia,” Mironyuk said. “We all met during the first IAPMO-WorldSkills scoping visit to Kazan in July 2018, and over the past year, we have continued to work together closely to plan and prepare this social project. Next week, following the end of WorldSkills Kazan 2019, we will bring our various teams and representatives together onsite at the orphanage, to complete the installation of the new toilet and washrooms on behalf of everyone involved with the WorldSkills Plumbing and Heating competition.”
Skill Competition Manager Dodds, who has been involved with WorldSkills competitions in a multitude of roles since 1995, added, “The new structure WorldSkills International are rolling out for their individual skills competition management teams has really enabled this new initiative to emerge in Kazan. Our project has assembled a group of people, located in different countries, who are all on the same wavelength about this type of work and why we want to do it. The collaboration so far has been very good, and has resulted in an exciting Test Project and competition experience that we hope is going to really inspire our young champions as they move forward with their lives and professional careers, post-WorldSkills Kazan 2019.”
Follow updates from Kazan via IAPMO social media and our special project hashtag #SkillsChangeLives.
Last modified: August 24, 2019