The Young Structural Engineers International Design Competition

The Young Structural Engineers International Design Competition is run every 3 years and aims to encourage ingenuity, imagination and inventiveness in young structural engineers. The competition is open to structural engineers and individuals under the age of 30 who are taking, or have successfully taken, a recognised civil and/or structural engineering course of study.

It is supported by the John Barrett Fund and the David Alsop Fund, and is sponsored by the following firms: Arup, Atkins, BDP, Bianchi Morley Ltd, Buro Happold, Clancy Consulting Ltd, Flint & Neill Partnership, Mott MacDonald Ltd, Pell Frischmann Consultants Ltd, Price & Myers and URS Corporation.

There are 4 prizes available:

• The John Barrett Prize - this is awarded to winner of the competition with £5,000 and a certificate. The prize was named in memory of the life and work of John Barrett, who was a young Member of the Institution keen to develop design skills in young structural engineers, and who sadly died in the Clapham rail collision in 1988;
• The Drury Medal of IStructE is awarded to the best entry submitted by an individual under 25 years of age;
• The David Alsop Prize is for the best entry from a country of low GNI;
• The Undergraduate Prize is awarded to the best entry submitted by undergraduates with £1,000 and a certificate of commendation.

The brief for the 2008 competition is to produce a legacy use for an Olympic stadium and its site. The stadium is to be a landmark prestige structure, worthy of the Olympic Games, and is to be representative of the city and country in which it is built. However the legacy facility is to be useful and economically viable over a projected structural life of 50 years. The design should not be wasteful of resources, either in the original construction, or in any subsequent use. For full details and entry criteria, click here.

For details of the 2005 winners, click here.