The competition, run by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), sets a series of challenges for groups of up to six engineers under the age of 30 to test their team working skills. Each team has to provide the necessary, multi-disciplinary skills to cover all aspects of masterplanning, building design and construction, tested through completing five stages of a build project, based on a real site.
The winning team, named Imhotep after the architect credited with building the first pyramid in ancient Egypt, included Rachel Banham, Rachel Sandbrook, Ivan Chan, Ben Worth and Ruth Bailey, all based in Buro Happold London, and Alex MacLaren, an external architect.
"Congratulations to all our staff who took part," says Mike Cook, Buro Happold partner. "The competition is a serious test of the broad range of skills an engineering team needs in the real world and it's gratifying that our people fared so well. One message from the competition, which all young engineers would do well to heed, is the importance of effective communication. As projects become ever more complex, and boundaries between the professions blurred, so a team effectively presenting the whole range of multi-disciplinary skills - to each other and the client - is vital."
This year's challenge was to develop the conceptual design for a primary school and community centre based on the Meridian Delta Development site, beside the Dome in Greenwich, east London.
Over 30 teams originally entered the competition from which eight shortlisted entrants were chosen and given a month to prepare their masterplan for the site, presented to a team of judges on Friday 18 November. The teams were then given just two hours to prepare for each of the next five stages, over the weekend of 19 - 20 November.
The first stage on Saturday called on the teams to develop a conceptual design, followed by a procurement strategy and then the detailed design. Sunday morning saw completion of the construction phase which included the additional problem of dealing with an area of contaminated land. This forced teams to re-plan while keeping the local community onside, ensuring health and safety standards were maintained and that costs did not spiral out of control.
The competition ended with the four best teams presenting their complete project to the entire group and judges, who cross-examined each team. The winning team was then chosen, partly on the basis of how they all handled a string of deliberately tricky and testing questions.
"Interestingly, Imhotep was the only team to feature more women than men, something that proves modern engineering is not 'just for boys'," says Cook.
Another Buro Happold London team, called 6IX, won the best contract strategy prize, while a third, from the Leeds office, was a runner-up among the final eight teams selected from the original 30-plus. "Buro Happold's success is vindication of the emphasis we put on teamwork and collaboration between staff working in all aspects of building design," adds Cook.
Teambuild is an annual competition showcasing the benefits of effective communication between the construction professions as they aim to deliver projects for clients. It was originally known as Build-a-Building, a competition first held in 1992 thanks to an initiative within the Institution of Civil Engineers to improve communication in industry. It is also supported by the Institution of Structural Engineers, The Royal Institute of British Architects and the Worshipful Company of Constructors amongst other professional institutions.
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
