Shedding Light on the Winner of the 2025 Flooring Apprentice of the Year Competition

By Shaun Wadsworth, CFA and FITA Training Manager

The Contract Flooring Association (CFA) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2025 Flooring Apprentice of the Year competition, is Daniel Mee from Hillside Contracts, Leicester.

Judging the competition this year were three seasoned CFA council members: Alan Gayle (AG Flooring), Matthew Brown (Uzin Utz UK) and David Brady (RJM Flooring) all of whom are experts in their field and committed to supporting the CFA and the competition.

The judges noted that Daniel’s entry was comprehensive, displaying all expected apprentice competencies, including thorough site setup, meticulous preparation work, correct PPE usage, and execution of diverse flooring tasks and procedures. His range of photos and videos supported his entry and he received great marks on all questions asked regarding floorlaying activities as part of the entry.

He also received great praise from his tutor and employer. Daniel spent time throughout his teens helping his uncle, who is also a floorlayer, and discovered how much he enjoyed the work before joining his employer Hillside Contracts. Daniel stated it is a profession he finds fun, rewarding, and something he is genuinely passionate about.

The CFA has proudly organised and delivered the Flooring Apprentice of the Year competition for many years and has always been delighted with the large levels of engagement from employers, apprentices, training providers and sponsors. The competition is now a fixed feature within the flooring industry calendar, taking pride of place alongside other awards at the annual CFJ Awards and highlights the dedication and achievements of flooring apprentices across the UK.

The very nature of the competition provides a platform for apprentices to highlight the skills that they have learnt during their apprenticeship and, for the companies that employ the apprentices to get involved, it shows commitment to training their workforce and their investment in the next generation of flooring installers.

When it came to organising the competition for 2025, we wanted to increase the engagement with industry and wider stakeholders even further and contacted sponsors to not only show their support for the winner but also for those apprentices that provided a great entry to the competition but did not quite reach the top spot, and what a response we had! This year, not only was the winner presented with a prize pool of a value in excess of £10,000 but sponsors kindly donated to a second and third place prize pool too.

We were also eager to grow the prize giving event too, which has traditionally been held at FITA, so when the InstallerSHOW and CFA collaborated on bringing the flooring sector to the largest installer-based trade show in the UK with over 30,000 visitors and 800+ exhibitors, the InstallerFUTURES stand at the show seemed like a perfect fit. On the 24th June at the InstallerSHOW, CFA president Alan McEwan announced Daniel as our winner in front of a live audience. Alan also announced that Sam Shetliffe (Capitol Carpets and Blinds) took second place and Greg Scott (Veitchi Flooring) took third, both runners up receiving their own set of prizes too.

Once the dust had settled and Daniel was over his initial shock at being named the winner, we asked him for his thoughts on winning the competition: ‘I’m over the moon to have won the CFA Apprentice of the Year 2025. It is a massive honour and it still has not fully sunk in.

‘It feels incredible to have all my hard work, commitment, and learning recognised like this. I have put everything into my apprenticeship, so to come away with this kind of recognition means more than I can put into words. I want to thank my uncle James for introducing me to the trade. I also want to thank everyone at Hillside Contracts for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow as part of a great team. And a massive thanks to Josh and Paul Appleby for the time, patience, and knowledge they have shared with me. I have learned so much from everyone. Winning this award has given me even more motivation to keep pushing forward. It is a proud moment and just the start of what I hope will be a long career in the industry.’

Each year the Flooring Apprentice of the Year competition is sponsored and supported by more than 20 of the flooring sector’s leading manufacturers, generously donating prizes. The prize list for the winner this year was bigger than ever and included a specialist flooring tool kit comprising of named workwear, tool bags, a range of hand and power tools, adhesives and subfloor preparation products, moisture measuring equipment and a range of accessories such as personal protective equipment.

The prize list includes £1,000 in cash, product vouchers worth £1,750 and online shopping vouchers worth £1,250. Finally, Daniel has won two free training courses to further his knowledge, skills and expertise, with the whole prize list worth over a staggering £10,000!

Daniel’s employers are no strangers to recruiting and training top quality apprentices. Jo Singer, Director at Hillside Contracts said: ‘Hillside Contracts is delighted Daniel has been awarded Apprentice of the Year 2025. We are extremely proud of Daniels’s efforts and determination he has shown to win this award.’

Daniel completed the formal training element of his apprenticeship with Webs Training and Flooring Industry Training Association (FITA) attending the FITA Training Centre in Loughborough for his off-the-job training.

Helen Davies, Flooring Training Coordinator at Webs Training had the following to say: ‘Daniel put so much effort into his apprenticeship, he was determined to have the best portfolio and provided the very best evidence that he possibly could. His practical skills developed quickly due to the effort and energy he put into every FITA session and his interaction with the fitters on site. The result was that Daniel was ready for his end point assessment earlier than planned and he sailed through it with a very respectable distinction.’

What is next for Daniel? In September he will be presented with a special award at the CFJ Awards and praised by industry once again for his fantastic achievement. If you are attending the awards make sure to congratulate Daniel, Sam and Greg on their achievements!

Thank you once again to the generous support of our sponsors who make this valuable competition possible:

0115 950 6836
shaun@cfa.org.uk
www.cfa.org.uk