The 2023 APL (Association of Professional Landscapers) World Skills UK (WSUK) Landscaping 2023 national finals are set to take place next week 14-16 November in Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Over 40 landscapers, from apprentices to full-time students applied back in March of this year, with two subsequent rounds, before a top eight were selected to go forward and compete for the title of WSUK Landscaping Champion 2023.

Finalists will have 16.5 hours to build a 12m2 project piece from scratch with elements including paving, decking, fencing, brickwork, lighting, water feature and planting. Everything will be measured to tolerances of around 3mm.

The finalists are as follows:

Rhys Barclay, Bridgend College Wales
Jacob Mercer, CAFRE Northern Ireland
Anna Mcloughlin, CAFRE Northern Ireland
Aimee Copeland, CAFRE Northern Ireland
Morgan Keable, APL Apprentice at Myerscough College, employer Gadd Brothers Ltd
Louis Foreman, Apprentice Writtle University College, employer Jacq and Wills Landscapes
Mitch Gorse, Myerscough College
Ceri Furber, APL Apprentice at Myerscough College, employer Gardenscapes

This is the APL’s 8th year as organising partner for the Landscaping competition.

Talasey, Makita, J A Jones, Landscape Plus and easyToolhire are also sponsors of the event.