The Institute of Acoustics (IOA) London Branch held its first meeting of the year on 10th January 2023. Three of the best IOA 2021-22 Diploma student from London South Bank University (LSBU) presented their final projects as part of annual the NTI-Audio sponsored best final project award competition, this year in its fifth session.

The presenting finalists and their topics were: Dan Hagan on Investigating BS4142:2014 reflection correction, Matt Hayes on The Acoustics of a complex learning disabilities school  and Leonardo Fernandez on Building vibration from music festivals . The in-person meeting took place at LSBU and was also streamed online to an online audience. Both venues were very well attended by a mix of senior consultants, academics and ex-LSBU acoustics students.

Organisers NTI-Audio UK Managing director Charles Greene and Diploma course director Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina presented the award to the joyous winner: Leonardo Fernandez.  In the presentation speech Charles ment

On 23rd of September 2022, a panel of representatives of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA), visited LSBU  to complete re-accreditation on the IOA Diploma of Acoustics and Noise Control and Certificate of Competence of Environmental Noise measurements  (CCENM) courses. The CCENM courses have been run by The School of The Built Environment and Architecture since 2013.

The director for those courses at LSBU, Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina, organised and led the visit with the assistance of the teaching team and School of BEA management. The panel were highly satisfied with the overall running of the courses.

We have recently received the confirmation that LSBU has gained re-accreditation to run those two prestigious courses for another 5 years. This is the third time that LSBU is accredited led by the courses’ owner. Well done Luis and the teaching team on a job well done!

Aged just 19, BEA apprentice, Mikolaj Ogorek, has been named as the Engineer of the Year by the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE). Mikolaj was nominated by Whitecode Consulting for his outstanding performance in the last year,  with the firm calling the young apprentice "a superstar".

Mikolaj's work co-ordinating the building services across four sites for the London Borough of Hounslow infil sites programme, garnered praise for his "near faultless" mechanical designs and his efforts sourcing air source heat pump solutions and water heat recovery systems. Whitecode Consultancy also described how Mikolaj has been "holding his own in co-ordination meetings between the contractor and client, which at the age of 19 is just astonishing”. It certainly seems that Mikolaj has a bright future ahead of him in the building services engineering industry.

Whitecode took on Mikolaj as one of four apprentices they had hired from Wilmington Grammar School in 2021. As part of the appre

As part of a well established partnership between LSBU, British University in Egypt (BUE) and Applied Science University in Bahrain (ASU), a Summer School for students of those partner universities is organised annually at the LSBU School of Built environment and Architecture (BEA).

Students and staff of ASU BEng (Hons) Architecture Engineering course attended a brief seminar on “Acoustics in Architecture” delivered by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina in the acoustics laboratory. The engaging session was held on the 4th July 2022 and covered basic theory, interactive demos and experiential learning which took place at the different chambers of our acoustics lab.

Vice President of ASU development affairs, Dr Faiza Zitouni, LSBU Summer School organiser Dr Rabee Shamass  and the students expressed their enjoyment with the inspiring seminar. We hope we can meet them again next year.

 The LSBU 2021-22 Education Awards ceremony took place on 7th June 2022 in the Keyworth Events Theatre, followed by a lively BBQ in Kell Street. The awards panel selected BEA's  Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina  as the winner of the Post Graduate Research Supervisor of the Year Award.  

This award is for a supervisor who has provided outstanding support to one or more postgraduate research students. The award was presented by Professor Tony Moss (LSBU Director of Student Experience) and Student Union president.The event was organised by LSBU Student Union and attended by members of LSBU executive and School of BEA senior management. Congratulations Luis, well done!

BEA's newly appointed colleague, Dr Siegfried Yeboah, has been appointed Guest Editor on the research topic Energy Saving Materials and Technologies for Low Carbon Buildings in Frontiers in Built Environment and is inviting colleagues to submit manuscripts related to the topics outlined below:

Research Topic: Energy Saving Materials and Technologies for Low Carbon Buildings in Frontiers in Built Environment under Sustainable Design and Construction.

Article Types: Review, original research articles on practical, experimental, theoretical and simulation innovations.

Topics: Include, but are not limited to:

• Heat transfer in PCMs and enhancement techniques: phase change material, microencapsulated phase change material, characterization, and development of new PCMs
• Renewable energy for buildings: geothermal, heat pump, PV, solar thermal technology, wind energy, biotechnologies
• Digital technologies in buildings: HVAC control systems, IoT technologies, digital technologies, occupant behavi

BEA's Dr. David McGovern, BSc, PhD, will be presenting at Pint of Science Festival on the 10th of May.

The Great Wave - How do we create a tsunami resilient built environment?

Drawing from his extensive research on Tsunamis, David will uncover how we can create a tsunami resilient built environment. 

A link to book tickets for the fee of £5 can be found here: https://pintofscience.co.uk/ 

Date/time - Tuesday 10th May, event starting 19:30 and finishing around 21:30/22:00

Location - The Ivy House, SE15 3BE

Format - 25 minute talk for general public audience +5-10min Q&A

A journal article on Hybrid Teaching entitled: Hybrid flexible (HyFlex) seminar delivery – A technical overview of the implementation, authored by School of BEA PhD student Rodrigo Sanchez-Pinzani and co-authored by BEA Rodrigo supervisors Prof Steve Dance and Dr Gomez-Agustina; has been recently published on the prestigious Building and Environment journal.

Here is the download direct link to the article https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1epzR1HudN80O6

The link will be active only for few weeks. The authors hope you enjoy the read.

This year’s first Institute of Acoustics (IOA) London Branch meeting was held on the 19^th of January 2022 and saw the presentations of three of the best IOA Diploma final student projects undertaken at LSBU in 2020-21 academic year. NTI- Audio, a globally leading acoustic instrumentation manufacturers, sponsored “The Best LSBU Diploma Final Project Award Competition". Finalist Gareth Hance was presented the award for best project, by the event organisers Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina (Diploma course director) and NTI-Audio UK Managing director, Charles Greene. The three presenting finalists and the Diploma course were congratulated by the IOA president Stephen Turner and Charles Greene. Charles remarked in his prize giving speech about “ …the usual high standard we have come to expect from London South Bank Diploma students”. The annual event hosted by Luis was very well attended, bringing together an audience of senior consultants, academics and LSBU Acoustics alumni".

BEng Civil Engineering student, Ella Northey, was announced as the Highways Magazine Apprentice of the Year at the Highways Awards, 2021.

Ella, who is an apprentice site engineer for Balfour Beatty was featured in Highways Magazine where she shared her journey of becoming their apprentice of the year. 

Please follow this link to read more about Ella's experience of starting an apprenticeship aged 18, studying Civil Engineering at LSBU part time and becoming an award winning apprentice.

Ella is keen to encourage others to pursue apprenticeships after her own success with Balfour Beatty, "I would encourage anyone thinking of taking the step to do it and don’t look back" (Ella Northey, Highways Magazine). 

We are proud to announce that towards the end of 2021, 3rd year student Josie Cheeseman was announced as the CIBSE Apprentice of the Year 2021. Josie is currently an Apprentice Building Services Design Engineer at WSP in London, working in the mechanical Team. 

It is fantastic that LSBU Apprentices such as Josie are making such an impact at these early stages of their careers. We celebrate Josie's success and wish her well as she works towards completing her apprenticeship. 

Dr. Olubisi Ige, BEA's Senior Lecturer in Construction Project Management and Academic Integrity Coordinator has been appointed by Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) as a member of its Professional Standards Committee. 

The CIOB Professional Standards Committee oversees CIOB standards, qualifications and education policy, reporting directly to the Board of Trustees.

This is a great achievement to start the new year and the school celebrates Dr. Olubisi Ige's success.

As part of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) initiative to own a large and diverse stock of images for  its media communications and purposes, the  Acoustics Group has donated 865 photos to contribute to that stock.

A photoshoot session was designed and led by IOA Diploma course director at LSBU, Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina, to provide attractive images that represent and illustrate the  acoustics profession in action. Six students on the current 2021-22 Diploma course kindly assisted Luis with the photoshoot. The IOA has expressed gratitude to the Acoustics Group and featured one of the photos on the front page of the January 2022 Bulletin issue (here shown).  The photos will also be used for relevant promotional communications at LSBU.

Another success for LSBU building services apprentices can be celebrated after students George Fall of Chapman BDSP and Charlie Hill of Troup Bywaters & Anders took joint first (with Annabella Conmee of Arup) and third place respectively at the 17th annual SoPHE Dinner Young Engineers Awards.

George and Charlie were among many aspiring engineers at the training day which involved exhibitions and practical CPD sessions with various pipework materials, fittings and valves manufacturers. This prepared them for the competition itself which saw competitors completing various pipework challenges and putting their theoretical knowledge into practice.

Two current postgraduate architecture students, Margarita Andreeva, and May Ashton-Jones collected a joint award for winning the Debbie Flevotomou Architects International Student Design Competition City of Tomorrow: Think Nature. The pairs’ work was highly regarded by the nine judges from multiple industries including Architecture, Real Estate, and Construction. Along with their award certificates, Margarita and May also received £1000 in prize money which they will share.

 Margarita and May’s project entitled The Assemblage explores ideas around relaxation and recharging amongst the chaos of Piccadilly and the Mall. The students were influenced by the idea of "the node" and consider the pavilion one such node, within a network that can spread across Central London.

Margarita and May are tutored by Piotr Smiechowicz, Yianna Moustaka, and Luke Murray in postgraduate Studio 23. This is an excellent achievement for our students, as it not only recognises their high-level, international

In December, recent graduate and current postgraduate design studio tutor, Piotr Smiechowicz, was the recipient of the Paris Design Awards 2021, in the Architecture category, under Cultural Architecture. 

Piotr's "The Moon Catcher" was inspired by the UK’s Radio 4’s Loneliness Experiment which found that 40% of young people feel isolated, and the overarching trend of rising  mental health issues amongst today’s youth, amid a landscape of social media and the post-human experience.

Piotr’s Moon Catcher reimagines Soho, London known for its night life and sex work as a diurnal space where young people can connect with nature, escape the blue light of screens and enjoy Epicurean pleasures of both the body and mind.

Piotr received this award for his graduation project The Moon Catcher, completed in Design Studio 23 with tutors Professor Lilly Kudic and Luke Murray. Please see the link to the work here. It is a testament to the vitality of the school and its postgraduate students.

Desislava Cholakova, recent BA (Hons) Architecture graduate and LSBU alumni, has won a prestigious RIBA President’s Medals Award, 2021. Desislava’s project the Cathedral of Trade was the recipient of the Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawing. The RIBA President’s Medals Award is a highly renowned, global student competition in Architecture. Over 408 Schools participate from across 80 countries internationally, meaning competition for securing an award is fierce.

Desislava’s Cathedral of Trade is located within the heart of the financial district of London and speculates a “Post-Brexit, Utopian world” where alternative forms of future democracy are debated. The project proposes a “banker’s hub”, accommodating debating areas, workspaces, archives, and bunkers to house vulnerable people, all derived from extensive research on the historical and religious significance of the City of London. Desislava’s project is live on the RIBA President’s Medals website where it will re

The Going Global Partnership: UK-China-ASEAN aims to increase collaboration among institutions in the UK-CHINA-ASEAN countries through strategic, sustainable partnerships which develop student experience and mobility, academic communications, leadership skills and teaching excellence via blended/ digital delivery.  

Colleagues from the school delivered one of six winning proposals for the Going Global Partnership: UK-China-ASEAN. In December they sat on the project’s workshop panel. 

Dr Ruoyu Jin, Mr Ismail Bayyati, Mr Navpreet Chohan and Dr Zulfikar Adamu partnered with academics from Chang’an University China and Ho Chi Min University of Technology to deliver. The Integrated Built Environment Teaching and Learning in the Joint Curriculum Development and Digital-Driven Industry 4.0 among China, Vietnam, and UK Workshop.                                                              

The School’s Dean, Professor George Ofori gave an opening address to begin the event, followed by talks f