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Two ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ Leicester (²ÝÁñÊÓƵ) Architecture students have won ProCon Leicestershire’s third year of prizes from the Pam Allardice Bursary.

The bursary fund was established in 2021 to celebrate the contribution of the property and construction network’s co-founder and chair of 20 years Pam Allardice, who died in 2020.

²ÝÁñÊÓƵ student Tehreem Zubair was a Pam Allardice Bursary winner

The prize for final year students was won by Ra'kin Ashadi, 20, from Brunei, for his vision of a retrofit project rejuvenating Leicester’s textile industry at a site at Leicester’s Frog Island.

The runners up were Olga Papadopoulou, Robert Gomez and Elari Ramirez.

Ra'kin, who after graduating will be starting a masters course, said: “I feel honoured to be nominated and win this award. The judges at ProCon were delightful to present to and gave good thoughts and feedback.”

Judge Sarah Grocock, a ProCon board member from Leicester architecture practice rg+p, said: “The winning project has a focus on the re-use of existing buildings and places sustainability at the forefront of the design, focussing on the poetics of the history of existing infrastructure and the stories it can tell.”

Sarah’s fellow judges for the final year projects were Chong Wong from Pick Everard, Adam Dodd from Willmott Dixon and Alfie Simons from Corporate Architecture.

The prize for second year students was won by Tehreem Zubair, 20, from Burton upon Trent, who said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and am very grateful for the opportunity.

“The judges showed genuine interest and engagement, allowing me to explain my project in detail. As a result, I truly enjoyed sharing my ideas.”

Tehreem won for her project designing a makers’ space to encourage community and skill exchange between the Third Age and local residents, focussed on the heritage of her site.

The three other year two students selected to present their work were Emily Bailey, Zuhdi Mohamad Zuhdi Alamad and Ethan Armstrong.

Sarah Grocock, Adam Dodd and Alfie Simons were joined for the year two award by fellow judge Alice Stewardson from Danaher & Walsh.

Tehreem with judge Sarah Grocock

Sarah said: “The winning project addressed the themes of loneliness in the Third Age by first hand research into the user group.

“We were extremely impressed by the depth of understanding demonstrated; each element of the project’s concept development and design had very clear links back to the brief and user group.”

Lucy Pengilley Gibb, ²ÝÁñÊÓƵ BA Architecture programme leader, said: “It is really important for students to professionally present their work to people across the industry.

“We enjoy the ProCon judging and it offers an important opportunity to help students develop verbal professional language.”