Young stars from the building services industry were honoured by Mayor of London Boris Johnson for their achievements at WorldSkills 2009.
Boris Johnson met the high achievers at City Hall on October 9, to congratulate them on their efforts in the competition, which is the skills equivalent of the Olympics.

Last month, in front of 150,000 spectators, 26 members of Team UK, competed over four days in Calgary against young people from around the globe for gold, silver and bronze medals.

Team UK achieved the UK's best results yet and were placed 7th in the world (four places up from the last WorldSkills contest in Japan). The team won three gold medals, six bronze medals and 14 medallions for excellence, (given to competitors who achieve at least 500 points, deemed the world class standard).

Richard Sagar, 22, from Langholm, who works for Eden Electrics and is City & Guilds qualified, won gold in Electrical Installations. Christopher Lonsdale, 22, from Bishop, Auckland, who is City & Guilds qualified, was awarded a medallion for excellence in plumbing & heating.

Simon Bartley, chief executive of UK Skills, which manages Team UK said: 'I had the honour of being able to see Team UK in action at WorldSkills Calgary 2009 and what they achieved was nothing short of amazing. I send my congratulations to them all and hope that their hard work and results inspire many more to take part in skill competitions and indeed come and see the WorldSkills Competition in action themselves when it is held in London in October 2011.'

At City Hall, the competitors were presented with a certificate from former England Rugby player Matt Dawson MBE.

The WorldSkills Competition, the biggest skills competition in the world, is held every two years, setting standards in more than 40 skill categories ranging from cabinet making to web design. This year, 900 competitors from 46 nations competed.