SEPTEMBER 2025
Mattia Plattner Shines with a 3rd-Place Finish at EuroSkills and Receives the Medallion for Excellence
A special achievement for ERNE and another highlight in Mattia Plattner’s young career: Our mason and aspiring foreman represented Switzerland at EuroSkills 2025 in Herning, Denmark, and achieved an impressive third-place finish.
As an additional honor, he received the Medallion for Excellence. This award is given to participants who achieve above-average results and stands for the highest quality of craftsmanship.
Over three days of competition, Mattia—as the Swiss vice-champion—faced off against competitors from across Europe. Under enormous time pressure and strict guidelines, he constructed two challenging masonry projects, which were evaluated by a panel of experts.
We are incredibly proud that Mattia had the opportunity to represent our country at an international competition. His success shows just how far one can go with passion, skill, and perseverance. He is a strong role model for young professionals and an authentic ambassador for the building trades.
We wholeheartedly congratulate Mattia on this outstanding achievement and celebrate this unforgettable moment with him.
August 2025
Final Training Session with Danish Bricks
During a final week of preparation, Mattia Plattner trained intensively with his coach and mentor, Beat Jung. They built a EuroSkills practice project using Danish bricks. Since the bricks have different absorption properties and dimensions, it’s crucial that Mattia gets used to them in advance.
The structure was built twice during the practice week. During the second attempt, the focus was on completing the masonry under time pressure while still achieving the highest possible quality.
The finalists will find out on site which project they will be working on at the competition in Denmark.
August 2025
2nd Team Weekend – Mental Strength, Physical Limits, and Team Spirit
That’s exactly what Mattia Plattner experienced during the final preparation weekend for EuroSkills 2025.
Together with the SwissSkills National Team, they aimed high—whether hiking, participating in sports activities, or playing team games. All with the same goal: to be fit, focused, and ready for the 2025 European Championships.
For Mattia, this weekend was more than just training: it was about demonstrating mental strength, pushing past his limits during outdoor challenges, and building trust within the team. This combination of physical exertion, mental focus, and pure team spirit has brought the National Team even closer together and demonstrated how important unity is on the path to peak performance.
July 2025
A Hard-Working Final Push
Over the past few months, Mattia has been training for several weeks at the masonry training halls in Sursee to prepare for his big competition in Denmark. During this time, he constructed several complex masonry projects. His coach and mentor, Beat Jung, supported and guided him throughout the process. Practice helps enormously, especially when it comes to speed, in terms of improving one’s performance—a factor that is crucial for victory in the competition. Now there’s just one more training session left before things get serious.
May 2025
2nd Competitor Weekend
From May 23 to 25, 2025, the SwissSkills National Team underwent intensive training at the Centro Sportivo in Tenero to prepare for the upcoming international competitions. During these three days, the focus was on mental strength, concentration, and team spirit.
The young vocational talents trained specifically to maintain their focus even in stressful situations, using exercises that combined physical exertion, coordination, and mental strength.
A simulated mini-competition, in which experts served as coaches and judges, gave participants the opportunity to test their skills under realistic conditions.
Team cohesion grew through shared challenges and mutual support. This dynamic forms a strong foundation for the upcoming competitions.
At the end of the weekend, Rico Cioccarelli, president of the SwissSkills Supporter Club, presented all competitors with the official travel bag—a symbolic moment of anticipation for the upcoming competitions in September and November.
April 2025
Mattia in the Aargauer Zeitung
The Aargauer Zeitung has published a comprehensive article about Mattia Plattner and his journey from his apprenticeship through the national vocational skills championships to qualifying for EuroSkills 2025 in Denmark.
March 2025
1st Competition Weekend
Ready for the media spotlight
During the second team weekend in preparation for EuroSkills 2025, Mattia Plattner and the entire SwissSkills National Team focused on media training.
How do you stay cool when a camera suddenly starts rolling?
As they prepare for the European Skills Championships in Herning, Denmark, this September, the participants are increasingly finding themselves in the media spotlight.
Under the guidance of experienced media professionals, the participants first learned the theory behind how to present themselves confidently in public while conveying clear and authentic messages.
A particular highlight was the hands-on camera training: Each competitor took part in a simulated interview complete with a television camera. The professionals then analyzed the performances together with the participants. Topics such as body language, posture, tone of voice, eye contact, and storytelling were the main focus.
For these young rising stars, these skills will be particularly in demand during interviews, public appearances, and on social media.
The second day focused intensively on the rules, procedures, and challenges of EuroSkills.
January 2025
1st Team Weekend
Kickoff for Official Preparations for EuroSkills 2025
From January 16–19, 2025, the Swiss national team of the country’s top young vocational talents gathered in Langenthal for their first team weekend. Twenty different trades were represented. The goal was to give the competitors an initial insight into the EuroSkills competition procedures; mental training was also on the agenda. In addition, measurements were taken for their custom suits to ensure a perfect fit for their big debut.
The group dinner with the families was another highlight: the entire national team was officially introduced. The competitors stayed at a hotel featuring an impressive car and motorcycle exhibition.
August 2024
Pioneering Work on the “MANAL Pavilion”
Mattia is building the pioneering “MANAL Pavilion” project using sustainable, cement-free building materials from Oxara.
A pavilion is being built on the campus of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Horw using sustainable materials from the ETH spin-off Oxara.
ERNE is responsible for the pavilion’s masonry, which Mattia completed with the support of our apprentices. This includes several sections of wall, arches, and two vaults.
The clay bricks and earth mortar used in the construction are completely cement-free and made from natural materials.
Mattia’s conclusion:
The material behaves completely differently from conventional mortar when building walls. We first had to learn a specialized application technique. The advantage of the material is that it can be dissolved with water at any time.
July 2024
Training in Herning, Denmark
At the venue for EuroSkills 2025, Mattia Plattner took part in a training session to prepare for the big competition. He successfully created two amazing masonry structures. The European Masonry Championships will take place in Herning from September 9–13, 2025.
September 2023
Foam Walls at the Vocational Fair in Wettingen
At the Aargau Career Fair in Wettingen in September 2023, Mattia created yet another work of art. The foam bricklaying demonstration at the Aargau Builders’ Association booth attracted many visitors, who watched him intently as he worked. His craftsmanship left some of the young people in awe.
July 2023
Honors at Construction Industry Day
On Construction Industry Day, June 30, 2023, the “who’s who” of the construction industry gathered at Arte e Cultura in Lugano. During this event, several talented young construction professionals—including our own Mattia Plattner—were honored for their exceptional achievements.
The event was hosted by Melanie Winiger and focused entirely on the shortage of skilled workers. This made it all the more gratifying that several young experts were honored during the course of the evening. Bernhard Salzmann, Director of the Swiss Contractors’ Association, congratulated Mattia Plattner on his second-place finish at SwissSkills 2022 and on his qualification for Euroskills 2025, which will take place in Herning, Denmark. Amid loud applause from Markus Meier, Kay Guggemoos, and Noé Stalder, as well as from approximately 700 representatives of the construction industry from all over Switzerland in attendance, Mattia, Nicola Krause (a participant in Euroskills 2023), and Ben Zaugg (2022 World Champion in Masonry) each received a gift.
Construction Industry Day is the industry’s largest networking event and is organized annually by the Swiss Builders’ Association.
May 2023
Training in Sursee
From May 24–26, 2023, Mattia completed a training course at the Sursee Campus. During the course, he practiced various types of masonry with different joints and angles on a designated structure, among other things.
March 2023
Honor at the Annual General Meeting of the Aargau Master Builders’ Association
The spotlight is on Mattia! Mattia Plattner has already demonstrated his skills as a mason on numerous occasions.
At the General Assembly of the Aargau Builders’ Association, President Martin Kummer honored him for his achievements at SwissSkills 2022, where he finished in an outstanding second place. Martin Kummer asked Mattia Plattner how he envisioned his future in his profession and in competitions.
Mattia’s response:
I want to continue gaining professional experience. Later on, I can definitely see myself pursuing further training in my field. To prepare for EuroSkills 2025 in Denmark, I’ll soon be completing another training session at the Sursee Campus. Fortunately, ERNE’s own masonry training hall is always open to me for practice.
January 2023
Foam Walls at BAUMAG in Lucerne
Brick by brick, this work of art took shape!
Mattia Plattner spent four days building a wall at BAUMAG in Lucerne. Many interested visitors—including friends and coworkers—stopped by to watch him work live at the trade show.
Our young talent took the challenge of the show-and-tell bricklaying seriously. At first, Mattia slightly underestimated how much time it would take, but he made up for it well, so that by 3:00 p.m. on the last day of the fair, he had already finished the brickwork.
The Bern coat of arms and the numbers within the letters required a particularly large amount of work. The letter “U” had to be stabilized with a support brick to prevent it from tipping over during the masonry work and only became stable after the mortar had hardened.
On site, Mattia received guidance from an expert at the Sursee Masonry Training Center, and to save on travel time, he stayed overnight at the Sursee campus each night.
After this weekend, Mattia had earned two days off before heading back to the construction site.
January 2023
ERNE Apprentice Center
Training as part of the annual training weeks for apprentices at the ERNE Apprentice Center in Füllinsdorf.
Mattia is using the time to build a masonry structure he designed himself and is helping the apprentices prepare for their quality assurance assessment.
September 2022
2nd Place at SwissSkills 2022
At the 2022 Swiss Championships (SwissSkills) in Bern, Mattia took an outstanding second place, thereby qualifying for the European Championships (EuroSkills) in 2025. The young talents built a replica of the Swiss Parliament Building in Bern as their competition project.
February 2022
Qualification for SwissSkills 2022
At the regional championships in Martigny, Mattia qualified for SwissSkills 2022. The brick structure depicts La Bâtiaz Castle.
September 2021
Qualification for the Regional Championship
Mattia qualifies for the regional championship at the career fair in Wettingen!
November 2019
First Competition in Lucerne
First roster for a competition in Lucerne. Unfortunately, Mattia was eliminated.
August 2018
Start of Apprenticeship
Mattia is starting his apprenticeship as a bricklayer (EFZ) at ERNE AG Construction Company.
