Member Article

College construction students through to national finals

A group of North East students are heading to the finals of a national competition thanks to their proposal to redevelop a Newcastle city centre office block.

The Sunderland College students have won the North East regional finals of the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) competition and will travel to Ascott, Berkshire, to compete in the national final on Wednesday, March 20.

The four HNC Construction and the Built Environment students, all from Sunderland are Lynne Dickinson, 30, Simon Lewis, 32, Anthony Dawson, 32, and Anthony Thornton, 25.

The group had to demonstrate how they would spend £1million to redevelop the interior and exterior of the building located on the corner of Neville Street and Westgate road near Newcastle Central Station.

In the final the students will have to give a 20 minute presentation to demonstrate their industry knowledge and problem solving skills to construction experts and will be in competition against students from many of the country’s top universities.

Gerry Ruffles, lecturer in construction, design and management at Sunderland College, said: “The students have done extremely well to get this far and all are feeling enthusiastic and motivated about taking part in the final.

“They will be taking on students from leading universities in the final so this is an excellent experience that will be very useful to their future careers.

“To represent the North East in the national final is a huge achievement and a sign of the student opportunities we have available here at the college.

“I’ve got my fingers crossed for the team.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ian Benet .