Isover helps UK University to global success

In only the second year since the UK has entered an international student design competition, sponsored by Saint-Gobain Isover, the first-placed UK entry from the national competition won an international award.

The top three UK entries from the national competition were placed in the international final of the contest for students of architecture and engineering to design a building to a PassivHaus standard.

Two entries from the University of Nottingham’s School of the Built Environment came first and second in the national competition and one of those teams then went on to win third place at the international gala held over four days in Slovenia. Third place in the UK contest was awarded to an entry from the University of Lincoln’s School of Architecture.

 The winning students from the University of Nottingham – first-placed Rosemary Connors, Jessica Thurlbourn and Rupert Rathbone (who also came third in the grand international final), second-placed Laura Mitchell, Michael Shupac and Hazwan Hakimi, and third-placed Tom Atkinson – have now been honoured at an awards evening at the University of Nottingham.

The sixth Saint-Gobain Isover competition attracted unprecedented interest this year, with entries from a record 16 countries. The contest is now accepted as part of the official syllabus at the University of Nottingham.

While previous years have focussed on designing buildings such as hotels, houses, schools and even exhibition stands and discos, to PassivHaus (or Isover Multi-Comfort House) standards, this year’s design centred around an office building in three climate zones – cold, moderate and hot.

The Isover Multi-Comfort House concept promotes the ideal that an appropriately constructed house with additional insulation can run on approximately 10% of the energy of a traditional house – an ideal that is proven with thousands of homes in Europe.

Saint-Gobain Isover’s marketing director Stacey Davis also announced during the evening that Isover and parent company Saint-Gobain Group are supporting University of Nottingham students in their bid to win an international environmental building design competition.

 The Solar Decathlon Europe competition is organised by the Spanish Ministry of Housing and the US Department of Energy and asks students to design and build self-sufficient houses that are powered by the sun and which balance architectural aesthetic with engineering excellence. The Nottingham entry will be designed and build to the UK’s Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 zero-carbon target.

Students from the University of Nottingham’s School of the Built Environment are one of just 20 teams from around the world - and the only UK entry - shortlisted for the final in Madrid in June 2010.

The awards evening at the University of Nottingham, which was sponsored by the University of Nottingham's graduate school http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/gradschool/, featured a presentation on Passive House standards by Saint-Gobain Isover’s head of innovation Gerry Mitchell and the presentation of cheques to the winners - €1,500 for first place, €1,000 for second and €750 for third.

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