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Portsmouth team wins Bright Futures Student Challenge
Nicky Roger Community editor
Bright Futures Student Challenge: The winners from the University of Portsmouth, with Stuart Deverill, managing director of VolkerFitzpatrick’s building division
The annual CIOB Tomorrow’s Leaders London and South Bright Futures Student Challenge (BFSC), sponsored by VolkerFitzpatrick and Reef Group, once again proved that there is a wealth of talent waiting to come into the construction industry.
Teams from universities and colleges in London and the south, all studying construction-based courses, came together to showcase their skills and knowledge to win the title BFSC 2023 Champions.
The competition was based around a £29m project by VolkerFitzpatrick for client Reef Group in King’s Cross, London. The Apex is one of six mixed-use new builds forming the Tribeca development.
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The teams were invited to a site tour of The Apex by the VolkerFitzpatrick project team, after which they had to produce a 10-minute presentation to a panel of judges on a specific question about the project.
Judges for the competition came from Baxall, Willmott Dixon, Barr Group, RW Armstrong, Walter Lilly and VolkerFitzpatrick.
The team from University of Portsmouth – comprising Aleena Paracha, Wayne Kelly, Max McLean, and Toby Davis – was the winner. The University of West London team – Milda Klimanskyte, Alfred Amedume, Daniele Cappadona and Shafin Mohammad – came in a close second.
Aleena Paracha (University of Portsmouth) was recognised as the Outstanding Student of the day and was presented with a trophy, certificate, voucher and an opportunity for a week of work experience with VolkerFitzpatrick.
Milda Klimanskyte (University of West London) and Justice Ohene Asiamah (Royal School of Military Engineering) were recognised as Highly Commended and will also have an opportunity to accept work experience with one of the companies represented by the judges.
VolkerFitzpatrick was sponsor of the BFSC and Reef Group sponsored the prizes for the event.
The November/December 2025 issue of Construction Management magazine is now available to read in digital format.
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