University students from across the UK have been invited to design a new community centre for Hereford in a nationwide competition launched this week– the Southside Hereford: University Design Challenge.
Timber Development UK, together with the New Model Institute of Technology and Engineering (NMITE), Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) and the Passivhaus Trust, have launched a competition to challenge built environment students and recent graduates, to form multidisciplinary teams to create a ‘net-zero community centre’ based on timber and timber-hybrid systems.
Students from all built environment courses at UK universities, from first to final year, along with 2021 graduates, are invited to enter the competition. The challenge is to design an exemplary community building that produces more energy than it consumes, at Southside in Hereford.
Participating teams are tasked with developing a design that places the Centre within the local landscape, integrating the interests of both client and community. The detailed designs must be ‘net zero’, creatively employing sustainable building materials and construction methods, and be energy and resource efficient, focusing on the health and well-being of people, the community, and our planet.
PEFC UK is proud to sponsor this latest University Challenge. As the world’s largest forest certification system, we recognise that today’s students are tomorrow’s design and construction professionals. Our support for this competition therefore aims to highlight the importance of specifying certified timber.