Last week, a team of Chesterfield College students studying professional construction were awarded ‘highly commended’ and praised for their entry in a cross college competition run by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB).
The CIOB set a challenge for students to design and plan for the management of a new city centre development site. The site in Sheffield is owned by Sheffield Hallam University and will be developed into a 3 storey university building by BAM construction.
Overcome challenges of building in a city centre
Teams of students from across the country were asked to take part. Above all, judges were looking for innovative and unique ways to manage the site and for students to demonstrate their knowledge of construction processes.
First and second year students used their skills to design ways to overcome the challenges of building in a busy city centre. Together they had to carefully consider a range of elements. Importantly, they looked at health and safety for workers and the general public. In addition, they had to consider traffic management, the logistics of getting plant, materials and people to site and the limited space available. To conclude, they then created plans that would overcome the constraints of the site. During their planning they also had to take the rules around road closures in a key central location into consideration .
The winning team
Lauren Smedley, who is in the second year of her BTEC extended diploma in Construction and the Built Environment course was project manager for the “Revit Wanderers” who were highly commended. She explained how she split her team into three to cover the main tasks. They had a team looking at health and safety, site management and quantity surveying.
She told us how it felt to be a project manager and take part in the competition. She said:
“It was hard but it is really inspirational. I can say I have done this and site managed for a potential project. I have learnt how hard it is to site manage and get the teams to work together. You don’t realise how much goes into something like health and safety on the site as well. There is something really powerful about doing. It is good to be part of a competition like this with other colleges. It means, we can pick up knowledge from each other. This project is exactly what I need to be doing to get into project management and development in the future. ”
Well done to everyone who took part and a special congratulations to team Revit Wanderers!
Find out more
Before the winners were announced we caught up with Lauren to find out more about the project. She told us how taking part will help her in the future. Watch as she tells us why she loves the course, what she wants to do in the future and what she has learnt by taking part in the CIOB challenge: