Civil engineering student claims first prize in Concrete Centre competition
Ashley Andersen, who’s studying for an MSc in Civil Engineering, has won a challenge to design a civic centre in the Concrete Centre’s annual Structural Concrete student competition.
The Structural Concrete competition gives civil engineering students from all over the UK the opportunity to respond to a real brief set by industry. In this year’s competition – sponsored by Laing O’Rourke – the challenge was to design a civic centre comprising of a library and council offices in a new garden town in the north west of England.
Winning first prize, Ashley impressed the judges with the high standard of his submission and clear, well-presented drawings. His design solution featured ‘tree’ columns with circular lightwells in the library, which provided a large open area with plenty of natural sunlight, and was designed to support an extensive green façade to improve local air quality.
Ashley says: “It’s great to have won the competition. The brief was both challenging and rewarding, and offered a unique opportunity to learn new skills as well as consolidating the skills and knowledge I’ve acquired during my time at Surrey.”
Ashley's proposed 'tree column' design solution.
Dr Juan Sagaseta, Reader in Structural Robustness, comments: "Ashley's proposed structural solution was very innovative and included some very interesting architectural features. The initial proposal was part of his coursework for the MSc module on Concrete Building Design which was then selected to represent University of Surrey at the National Competition. We are very proud by this achievement."
Discover our courses in civil engineering, including our MSc Civil Engineering.