The Institute of Acoustics (IOA, the UK professional body for the multidisciplinary field of acoustics) have recently approved to instate a new award named after the late Dr Bob Peters, in recognition to his outstanding service to acoustics education and his long standing commitment to teaching and student success in the UK.

Dr Peters was honorary fellow member of the IOA and for 20 years was part of the School of BEA Acoustics Group teaching staff, contributing greatly to the good standing on acoustics education that the group holds.

The award was conceived and proposed by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina who is a former student of Dr Bob Peters.

Dr Peters advised on research projects and also acted as internal PhD examiner for various PhD students at LSBU including Luis.

This will be the first award in the UK to recognize and celebrate excellence in acoustics teaching and education.  

The first nominations will be considered this autumn 2021 for 2022. The award will be biannual and for a singl

The UK Government’s declaration of a Climate Emergency in May 2019 has radically escalated the pace at which the UK must decarbonise its housing stock. Heating in homes accounts for 10% of the nation’s carbon footprint and homes are more significant than all other building types put together. No surprise then, that our 3rd Climate Emergency event shone a spotlight on Heat in homes, and the race to replace gas.

Prof Andy Ford gave the opening address, saying as we explore which technologies should replace mains gas, the sector has grave concerns that the decision could be derailed by vested interests, as happened to the Zero Carbon Homes legislation previously.
As Prof Ford stated: “The technology choices we make now will echo down the generations. We cannot make this a race of competitive interests.”

The first speaker, Dr Jan Rosenow demonstrated how the UK’s carbon intensity in heating remains one of the worst in Europe. Dr Rosenow stressed how we must go further and faster to switch

Congratulations to Dr Héctor Levatti, on his successful application to be part of the UKRI Early Career Researcher Forum.

Please note that the application process for the UKRI Early Career Researcher Forum is still open. If you wish to apply, please click here for further details.

Congratulations to Dr Héctor Levatti, on his successful application to be part of the EPSRC’s Engineering Early Career Forum. Dr Levatti will be LSBU's first ever representative for this Forum.

Dr Levatti has sixteen years of experience on research and has worked on research since 2004, when he moved from Argentina to Spain to complete his MSc and PhD. Since 2005, he has used an experimental and numerical approach to work on research for desiccation cracks in clayey soils. He is currently working in collaboration with UPC-BARCELONA TECH on this topic and they have published several dissertations, conference papers and journal papers on this subject.

Dr Levatti has also worked on the project ASTUTE at Swansea University (2012 – 2016) as a project officer. He worked on the solution of several manufacturing problems that the local industry faced in several areas. As a result, he has published several reports, conference and journal papers.

Dr Levatti is now an early career researcher

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA to Dr Finian McCann, who recently won an award from the Institution of Structural Engineering for MSc Research Grant. The award was for £800 from the Institution of Structural Engineers, which will be used to support experimental research into the fire fuel load contribution of structural timber components.

This will be conducted by one of the new MSc students and will use our ceramic heating pads and dedicated flame rig in the E123 and Quad2 laboratories.

Congratulations to Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina who has become an external examiner of the Masters programme in Applied Acoustics at University of Derby (UK). Dr Gomez-Agustina was invited to apply for the position, as he is known to the University of Derby Acoustics team from the courses re-accreditation carried out by the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) in 2019, in which he was co-lead of the accreditation panel.

This appointment will provide an opportunity to learn from good practice implemented at other leading universities. The new role will also help to strengthen the links between LSBU and the University of Derby and stimulate future teaching, enterprise and research collaborations.

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA, to the following colleagues for their achievements: 

• Dr Rusdy Hartungi was awarded Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
• Dr Metkel Yebiyo was awarded Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).
• Mr Carlos Gonzalo was awarded SFHEA.
• Dr Hector Levatti was awarded FHEA.

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA, to Simon Leung, who won the Teaching Excellence Award and Dr Luis Santos who was Highly Commended.

The award “recognises individuals and teams who play a vital role in inspiring and engaging learners. They are focused on best possible learner outcomes, preparing them to make successes of their lives, from education through to employment”.

For further details, please see here. 

Simon LeungDr Luis Santos

Max Rayner, an architecture student from London South Bank University’s (LSBU) School of Architecture and Built Environment, has won the prestigious Gatwick Diamond Business Apprentice of the Year award. The Apprentice of the Year was sponsored by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. 

Max, who won the award, is a level six apprentice studying for a BA (Hons) Architecture at LSBU, while employed as an Architectural Assistant by urban planning and architecture consultancy, Woods Sanders & Co Ltd.

Luke Murray, head of architecture at LSBU, said  “Winning Apprentice of the Year is a great achievement for one of our aspiring students and a very great honour for LSBU’s School of Architecture.” “Max Rayner’s success in this competition shows how well the University has prepared and equipped students for employment in their chosen field.”

The Award has received a lot of attention and was tweeted by Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.

The Gatwick Diamond Business awards were announ

The 20th International Conference on Construction Applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR2020) was held online on 30 September 2020 to 2 October 2020 (www.convr2020.com). The theme was "Enabling the development and implementation of Digital Twins". The Best Paper Award was won by: “Developing a Mixed-Reality Based Application for Bridge Inspection and Maintenance”, by Duy Cuong Nguyen, Chang Su Shim, The Quan Nguyen, Ruoyu Jin and Chi Ho Jeon.

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA, to Ruoyu Jin, for this achievement.

The proceedings are available here.

The Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) awarded prizes to students of the course in BEA for individual and group work on the course in August 2020. All nominated students, Winners and Highly Commended students were given a certificate. The top three in each year were given gift vouchers. The Winner of the Final Year was given a free upgrade from Student to Associate grade of CIAT membership and awarded a medal.

The final year winners were:

1. Best Final Year Student: Chris Cattle
2. Highly Commended Final Year student: Joel Mammoliti
3. Best Final Year Group: Chris Cattle and Ann-Marie Houlihan
4. Highly Commended Final Year Group: Ben Clark and Luke Stanley.

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA, to all the winners for these achievements.  

LSBU apprentices made a clean sweep of the top three prizes presented in a new award by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the CIBSE Apprentice Award.

The ceremony took place on 8th October 2020. There were 24 nominations for the inaugural award and the three CIBSE Apprentice Award 2020 winners are:

• CIBSE Apprentice of the Year – Megan May Whitbread, working at Troup Bywaters + Anders
• CIBSE Apprentice of the Year First Runner Up – George James Field, working at chapmanbdsp
• CIBSE Apprentice of the Year Second Runner Up – George Suddery, LSBU apprentice who is working at Hoare Lea.

BEA is a pioneer and a major player in apprenticeships. It is good to see our apprentices winning so many awards.

The School of BEA congratulates them all. 

For further details about the CIBSE Apprentice of the Year, please click here and here. 

A number of the School of BEA’s apprentices were nominated for the BAME Apprentice of the Year Awards. The final ceremony took place on 11th November 2020 and our apprenticeships won the top prizes:

1. Romario Daniel Cazaubon, studying on the BSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying 5years (Surveying Apprenticeship) and working with Mace Group Ltd, won the BAME Apprentice of the Year Award in the Construction Services category.
2. Dionne Lavern Alder, studying on the BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering (TAC Design Apprenticeship) and working with the London Borough of Southwark, was Highly Commended.

Congratulations on behalf of the School of BEA, to the winners for these achievements.  

For further details about the BAME Apprenticeships, please click here.

A number of our architecture students and alumni have received recognition in the RIBA London Student Awards which celebrate some of the best work from architecture schools in London. The awards will also showcase the students’ projects online to a global audience. The following LSBU students were winners in the 2020 awards:

• Michael Crook: Award Winner, from the MArch: Master of Architecture Studio 20, led by Onur Ozkaya and Dele Olubodun
• Sarah Nottet-Madsen: Award Winner, from the MArch: Master of Architecture Studio 20, led by Onur Ozkaya and Dele Olubodun
• Jack Biggerstaff: Commendation, from MArch: Master of Architecture Studio 23, led by Professor Lilly Kudic, Luke Murray, Monika Jociute and Teoman Ayas
• Dola Moni Mukta: Commendation, from the BA[Hons] Architecture Studio 04, led by Todor Demirov and Daniel Tang.

You can see details of the awards, in the announcement on the RIBA London Twitter account and on the RIBA London Instagram page

The series of architecture awards won is a

We are pleased to announce that Nicola Bathe, an Apprentice Civil Engineer from FM Conway Ltd, has been awarded as the CIHT Apprentice of the Year 2020. Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT).

CIHT represents and qualifies professionals who plan, design, build, manage, maintain and operate transport and infrastructure.

CIHT's Apprentice of the Year Award celebrates the achievements of apprentices who work in the highways and transportation sector, and the organisations that put them at the heart of their business.

Martin Tugwell, President, CIHT said:
“This year’s winner Vickie Bathe an Apprentice Civil Engineer with FM Conway impressed us with not only her knowledge of the sector but with the ideas and enthusiasm she showed throughout our interview process.”

Vickie Bathe said:
"I would say I am overjoyed to have won the award and couldn’t have done so without the support of the team I work with and backing of the company. They have given me the experience and skil

Dr Hector Levatti of the School of BEA, delivered a presentation on 11 November 2020 for EPET No 1 and several other Technical Schools in Formosa, Argentina via Zoom. This was followed by a Q&A session. The seminar was part of the framework celebrating 61 years of Technical Education Day in Argentina.

This event was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Educación Técnica (CONET) and Instituto Nacional de Educación Tecnológica (INET).

A ground-breaking project to develop a new way of storing hydrogen in buses has been launched by academics at the School of the Built Environment and Architecture.

The LSBU project aims to deliver:

• Improved safety with hydrogen stored at lower pressures in smaller cylinders on buses instead of the large high-pressure cylinders that are currently used.
• More space on buses because large high-pressure cylinders are replaced by smaller cylinders.
• Reduced power consumption because the new storage system could provide the bus with cooling power for air conditioning.

LSBU researchers will investigate using hydride to absorb, release and store hydrogen. This would remove the need for large high-pressure cylinders which is the way hydrogen is currently stored on buses.

LSBU has been awarded £60,000 of government funding from Innovate UK for the project and will work with industry experts in thermal management, Ricardo, on design and analysis in the first phase. This will be followed by the de

Piotr Smiechowicz, an MArch: Master of Architecture RIBA Part II graduate, has won another international prize with his postgraduate design project, The Moon Catcher.

Piotr completed his studies in academic year 2018-19, working with Professor Lilly Kudic and Luke Murray. Piotr had also won the prestigious RIBA President’s Medals, Silver Medal Commendation, making his work one of the best student projects in the world.
This latest accolade is for the Architecture Masterprize 2020 competition held in Los Angeles (USA) and Piotr won in two categories:

• Best of Best Winner 2020 in Culture Architecture Category;
• Student Winner 2020 in Other Interior Design Category.

This competition is of incredibly high global acclaim, with the professional award going to Tadao Ando for the HE Art Museum project. Please see the link below to review Piotr’s work and the awards he has received.

Architecture Masterprize 2020 - THE MOON CATCHER

The School of BEA would like to extend our congratulations to Pio

Mubarak Abdelrasoul Elnour Ismail, a Ph.D. student in CBSE, graduated from the Clinton Global Initiative University earlier this week. The Clinton Global Initiative is a programme on which selected students from around the world get the opportunity to participate in leadership development, mentorship, skills training, and the partnership building process, under the supervision of experts from Clinton Foundation.

On completing the one-year programme, participants graduate and become official CGI U alumni. Mubarak was nominated for the programme by his doctoral supervisory team: Issa Chaer, Esmail Saber and Abas Hadawey.

We would like to offer our congratulations, to Mubarak, on behalf of the School of BEA. 

Please see the attached link for the Graduation ceremony

The Association of Noise Consultants (ANC) has recently announced the best IOA Diploma final project Prize winner for the 2028-19 cohort. The winner is LSBU 2018-19 Diploma ex-student Paul Roberts. Paul’s final project was entitled Sound Propagation from Lightwells.

The awards promote and recognise excellence among UK acoustic consultants and look for examples of work that displays innovation, and originality in acoustic design or approach to a particular project.

The well deserved prize consists of a book of choice, sum of cash prize and an invitation to attend and present at the ANC national award ceremony. The project supervisor Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and the IOA Diploma committee are delighted for Paul’s achievement. Congratulations to Paul, on behalf of the School of BEA.