Loughborough team communicate success!
A Loughborough University team are celebrating after winning the East Midlands round of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Communications Competition.
The team, consisting of Ben Powell, John Rushton, James Mulvenna and Nicholas Humphries, all fourth year Master of Civil Engineering students, beat off stiff competition from a fellow Loughborough University team and from URS and Balfour Beatty.
They will have the opportunity to represent the region in the national to be held later in the Spring.
The competition is open to all ICE students and graduate members with fewer than seven years experience in the industry.
It is vital that young engineers have the necessary skills to communicate details of engineering schemes to the public; which may have serious consequences for local residents, such as potential environmental blight, noise or compulsory purchase.
The competition is intended to allow them the opportunity to develop their communications skills using role play by taking part in a mock public consultation using scenarios based around engineering scheme proposals.
Participants must prepare a consultation strategy, produce a public information leaflet and deliver a 15 minute presentation outlining the proposals of their chosen project. They were also required to respond to questions from the audience about the scheme.
The winning team’s presentation was East End Underground ‘Tube’ Extension based on the scenario of a proposal to extend the East London Underground tube line to provide an enhanced link with south London and north east London.
The judging panel of senior engineers were impressed with their clarity in communications, the way in which they covered the main issues raised by the proposals, the way they engaged with the audience and distributed roles between team members.
Ben Powell, team captain, commented: “The competition itself was really well organised and was a brilliant learning experience. We received some extremely valuable feedback that we will all take forward in our careers.
“We are delighted to be the regional winners and the other Loughborough team deserve a special mention as they pushed us all the way.
“We are looking forward to the next round and taking on the feedback received thus far to hopefully prepare and produce something even better.”
Sebastian John, Chairman of ICE East Midlands Graduates and Students Committee, commented: “I would like to send my congratulations to Ben and his fellow team members on their success in the East Midlands round of the ICE Communications Competition.
“As an alumnus of Loughborough University myself, I am proud that they will be representing the region in the national finals and I would like to wish them the best of luck for this.”