Morgan Sindall Construction helps students put their knowledge into practice

A team of Liverpool students have been named winners of the Novus Student Challenge 2018 Northern and offered a work placement with Morgan Sindall Construction, after impressing judges with their vision to design a new building in the city’s Knowledge Quarter.

Alex Dawes, Jack Heaney, Kyle Dougan and Ben Tregear, all final year students on the Liverpool John Moores University BSc (Hons) Construction Management programme, beat rival Construction Management university students from Manchester, Liverpool and Preston in the 2018 Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) competition.

The teams were tasked with designing a temporary multi-functional ‘Knowledge Hub’ facility within Liverpool’s £1 billion Paddington Village development, which is being delivered by Morgan Sindall. The structure will be used by the local community for education, training and digital technology skills sessions.

The CIOB competition brought together students from across the North West to demonstrate their creativity, teamwork and industry knowledge. During the task, the students were given time to research and develop their proposal before presenting to a panel of expert judges, including Morgan Sindall Construction bid manager, Owen Ashton.

Owen, who is also chairman of CIOB’s Preston hub, said: “The quality of this year’s competition was exceptional and we received some outstanding proposals from students.
“We were looking for standout proposals that demonstrated a cost-effective solution to deliver a safe and positive experience for the local community around the Paddington Village site.
“We were extremely impressed with the work from all of the teams that took part in the challenge and it’s encouraging to see this talent pool of students entering the construction industry.”

Novus is the CIOB’s group for students, young professionals and industry newcomers who are developing their career in construction and provides them with an opportunity to network with industry experts.

Barry Roberts, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “Morgan Sindall Construction is committed to supporting the development of students and young people who wish to pursue a career in construction.
“Competitions such as this act as a great opportunity for us to engage with students from across the region and to see first-hand their enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge about the industry. It’s a fantastic achievement for the winners of this year’s competition and we’re looking forward to welcoming them on-site to undertake a work placement with us later this year.”

The Paddington Village project was procured through the North West Construction Hub framework and is part of Liverpool City Council’s vision to build on the city’s thriving life science sector, attracting investment, creating knowledge-intensive jobs and cementing the city region as an international destination of significance for the life-science, healthcare and technology industries.