Cambridge Uni team wins 6th ULI Hines Student Competition
A team from the University of Cambridge has won the sixth annual ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe, which challenges multidisciplinary students from across the region to combine their skills, built environment knowledge and creative thinking to tackle a demanding task focused on responsible land-use and sustainable development.
“Our industry’s future depends on bold, innovative thinking, and seeing this year’s teams tackle complex, real-world challenges with ingenuity and creativity has been truly rewarding,” said Lars Huber, head of Europe, Hines. “The next generation of talent carries the responsibility and the opportunity to redefine the boundaries of our field and it is our privilege to support future leaders as they turn ambitious ideas into tangible change.”
Six diverse multidisciplinary teams representing various universities and business schools from Austria, Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Switzerland, Sweden and the UK participated in the competition final, presenting their urban development proposals in response to a jury composed of real estate industry leaders from across Europe.
Acting as the development advisor to the local Council, this year’s real-world urban case study required the teams to address the challenges related to retail around London’s Bond Street station.
The challenge focused on the redefinition of the retail and leisure experience alongside modern living and working spaces, emphasising retail as an activator for the area, while also including a broad public realm strategy to interlink isolated spaces, enhance biodiversity and improve the environment for residents and visitors.
The task was designed to explore each team’s understanding of the key factors that affect decisions around responsible land-use and sustainable development, from real estate finance to investment, development, and social and environmental issues.
The expert jury determined that team LHBK from the University of Cambridge, which included Harry Anderson, Krris Chandaria, Balazs Kondor, and Leo Walton, had presented the best response to this year’s complex task.
The team’s overall concept was ‘city touching the sky’, featuring elements such as the pedestrianisation of the public realm including Stratford Place for retail and leisure uses, creation of connected green corridors, integrating a park into retail and office spaces, increases to external and internal natural light, a pedestrianised skywalk attraction and interconnected rooftops to increase green public space.
The jury, chaired by Brian Moran, senior managing director, Hines, were impressed by the team’s sensibility concerning design and urban placemaking, including maximising natural light, and their creative ideas around connectivity with a key focus on pedestrianisation of the public realm.
“It is interesting that two thirds of the teams participating in this year’s final were inter-collegiate in composition, clearly demonstrating the recognition that it requires a diverse set of disciplines to successfully solve any current urban development challenge,” said Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe. “For our industry’s future leaders, which this competition is focused on, as well as today’s leaders, the innovation and critical thinking that comes from true industry collaboration will be critical as we continue to navigate both the turbulence and transformation that our industry is experiencing.”
