Property and built environment students at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) were faced with a ‘real-world’ challenge last week. As part of a Sustainable Development Challenge – sponsored by property industry leaders, Jansons Property – students in their second year at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment (ADBE) were given the task of developing sustainable solutions.
Professor Richard Bull, Deputy Dean of the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at NTU said; “As a university we thrive on providing real-life work experiences like this to support our teaching and help make our students industry-ready for when they graduate from NTU. We are grateful to Jansons for investing their time and sharing their expertise with our students. Collaborative experiences, especially those with a focus on sustainability, are vital in providing the next generation with a solid understanding of the challenges they will soon face as young professionals in their built environment careers.”
By bringing together students from the Departments of Property Management, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, the aim of the challenge was to encourage industry-like conditions of teamwork and realistic addressing of sustainability issues. It was designed to encourage collaborative working between different departments – an industry imperative– and help students look at real-world solutions, alongside individuals from other disciplines.
“The property industry relies on collaboration – buildings aren’t built by individuals, they come together from a lot of different disciplines joining forces. We felt it was important to create a project where NTU students could engage in the same way professionals do and solve a real problem,” explained Paul Nash, Construction Consultant at Jansons Property.
Following a design brief, the students used their individual and group skills to consider and create sustainable approaches. This culminated in pitching their proposals to a judging panel at the end of the day.
The event was attended by industry specialists and staff who offered mentor support and judged the competition. It concluded with a dinner at NTU where the winners were announced, and prizes awarded by Andy Jansons, Managing Director of Jansons Property and a former NTU student himself, who commended the students for “their commitment to the challenge and the high quality of the work that they produced and presented”.
Students Krishna Bhat, Milo Connelly and Dishav Vasudev made up the winning team, and walked away with a cash prize and recognition of their collaborative working across disciplines.