The Newcastle Hub 2023 Student Challenge was held at Hartlepool College of Further Education at the end of March.
Teams came from Hartlepool College, Gateshead College and apprentices from RE:GEN Group. However, it was a home win, with the Hartlepool College team taking the top spot.
The winning team consisted of Emily Fullen, Hannah Wilson, Georgia Smith, Molly Yews, Keaton Hogg and James Thompson.
Gateshead College won the trophy for Best Innovative Idea, and Jake Smith from Hartlepool College won Best Leader.
The challenge was to erect a six-storey office building to accommodate the client’s HQ on the existing surface car park bounded by Strawberry Place and Strawberry Lane in Newcastle. The site comprises 0.24 ha to the south and east of The Strawberry public house.
The teams were informed that the building would comprise 8,480 sq m gross internal office floor space with ground-floor meeting rooms and cafe, basement car parking (15 spaces) and cycle parking (100 cycle spaces) and associated landscaping to the boundary areas.
The teams, working as consultant and contractor, were to advise the client if its needs for the development could be met. They were required to look at the site layout, construction methods, delivery, building constraints, sustainability and the ‘new normal’.
The teams had four-and-a-half hours to produce a presentation to two teams of four building experts.
Throughout the day, the teams had construction professionals on hand who acted as mentors.
All of the teams were commended on the level of work they had carried out. Judge Paul Young FCIOB, a CIOB trustee, said: “The presentations were fantastic, especially given the very limited time available.”
