Young Professionals win Teambuild

An interdisciplinary team from BDP’s London studio has been crowned winner of Teambuild 2008, a national competition that challenges young professionals in the construction industry to work and present on a real life design challenge.

The team, bringing together BDP’s disciplines of architecture, urbanism, engineering and sustainability, competed against other leading building design practices including Arup, Buro Happold, Assael Architecture and a team from BDP’s own Bristol studio.

Team members showcased their strength in interdisciplinary thinking and joined-up design approach through dedicated preparation, co-ordination and skilled presentations. The challenge encouraged understanding and co-operation between all the disciplines and was a challenge the young team members thoroughly enjoyed.

Bea Zimelka, an architect, said “We are absolutely delighted to have won and have had the most fantastic experience, both professionally and personally. To have this acknowledged and confirmed by some of the most prestigious judges in the industry is the biggest compliment there could be.”

The final competition was based on a ‘real world’ masterplan proposal brief for a major University and Science Park at Keele University. The teams were then set a series of separate design challenges set at various project design stages over the three days, each ending with a presentation that was marked by the industry judges on Teamwork, Leadership, Organisation and Presenting skills.

Urban designer Marco Geretto described the weekend as “the most intense experience level of exposure to the construction industry you could ever imagine, forcing you to think as a team, out of the box and on your feet.”

Environmental engineer Caroline Stassen added “being a member of the winning Teambuild team is amazing, I’m surprised and really proud of the extent to which we all developed over the weekend; both individually and as a team.  I can’t believe how hard work it was, and how much fun hard work can be!”

Team members           
Bea Zimelka                 architecture
Caroline Stassen         environmental engineering
Henry Nicholson           sustainability
Rhodri Williams            structural engineering
Eleonora Balducchi      architecture
Marco Geretto              urbanism