Dulux Academy gives world record a pasting

The Dulux Academy, the world’s first academy for painters and decorators which launched earlier this year, witnessed wallpaper wonders as eight teams battled it out in front of four adjudicators and two judges to try and beat the Guinness World Record attempt for hanging three sheets of wallpaper perfectly and in the fastest time.

 

The record is currently held by Phil Burgess and Simon Whitaker at just 1 min 16.435 seconds. This was organised in conjunction with wallpaper experts Graham & Brown as part of activities to celebrate International Wallpaper Week.

 

In pairs of two, the decorators hung three pieces of wallpaper on an 8ft high 5’5ft wide wall and each team had three attempts to break the record. The final result had to meet the exacting standards of the judges, Louise Stevenson from Graham & Brown and Mark Rigby, with clean lines, straight edges and no air bubbles under the surface. Dulux Select Decorators Simon Medlin and John Green smashed the record at 1 minute 14.93 seconds but due to a couple of visible air bubbles, the judges deemed it to be an invalid attempt.

 

The event was held as part of the Academy’s open day which provided decorators with the opportunity to tour the building and learn more about the 59 courses available, that offer career development by learning and upskilling their practical and business knowledge. The Academy also offers wallpaper specific courses such as a one-day courses on wallpapering techniques and creating a feature wall, as well as a two-day course on advanced wallpapering.

 

Throughout the day 15 rolls of wallpaper were used and a total of 21 minutes and 63 seconds were spent hanging wallpaper in record attempts.

 

Eight teams took turns battling it out to break the record:

Entrants	Company	Time
John Green Simon Medlin	John Green Deco limited Medlin with Paints	1 minute 14.93 seconds
Matt Gray Tony Pearson-Young	Dulux Academy Dulux Academy	1 minute 19.32 seconds
Nick Withey Alan Winning	Finishing Touches Painting and decorating.net	1 minute 24.50 seconds
Phil Burgess Paul Feather	The current world record holder Vista Digital	1 minute 34 seconds
Steve Trebilcook Callum Wing	Dulux Select Decorator Axis apprentice	1 minute 46.36 seconds
Steve Trebilcook George Baker	Dulux Select Decorator Dulux Select Decorator	1 minute 47.23 seconds
Matt Pullen Phil Mawdsley	Managing Director at AkzoNobel Programme Manager at AkzoNobel	2 minutes 17.24 seconds
Rachel Dwyer Joe Macanara	Axis decorator Axis apprentice	2 minutes 34.75 seconds

 

Vickie Mather, Dulux Academy Manager, AkzoNobel, said: “Dulux Academy is a dedicated facility that offers courses which cover the whole decorating experience, from spray application and urban effects to understanding colour theory and website creation. Supporting International Wallpaper Week with our supplier Graham and Brown, as well was working with Vista Digital and Mirka, has enabled us to demonstrate that decorating is a craft and the Dulux Academy is the place to develop those exacting skills.

“Clearly this was a tough challenge and we look forward to beating the current world record next year; we suspect the teams will be honing their skills in preparation as the competition was fierce and the atmosphere was fantastic.”