National D&T success
Bloor Homes is pleased to announce that this year’s Home for Design competition has been won by Eastbourne College. The competition was won by its second all girl team with a well thought-out design featuring some innovate features. The girls will now see the home they designed built by Bloor Homes.
The Home for Design competition was first run in the 2012/13 academic year and proved such a success, with 200 entries from schools in England, that Bloor Homes committed to invest in the build of another new home designed by a student team.
This year’s winner, Rebe Casselden and Ella Howlett, both 14, were two of 11 students who entered from Eastbourne College under the guidance of Mr Wilders, Head of Design and Technology. The girls were shortlisted from the initial entry process down to the top 30. The 30 shortlisted entries were then judged by the Bloor Homes until a final five was put forward to the final.
The final itself took place in the Roca London Gallery where each student team had 40 minutes to present their plans and take questions from a panel of industry experts. The experts were Andrea Watson (Daily Express), Stephen Maunder (What House), Gareth Barnbrook (LABC), Michele Rose (Bloor Homes) and head judge Richard O’Brien (Bloor Homes Group Design Director).
The girls designed a four bedroom, four bathroom property with an open plan living space acting as the centre of the house. The house featured a supporting structure built around the central staircase and an innovative underground heating system which was very forward thinking.
Commenting on the winners Richard O’Brien said: “We’re absolutely delighted with this year’s competition. We received entries from across England and it was a difficult decision to cut them down to the final five, let alone select a winner.
“The five finalists performed extremely well. Their designs were excellent and their presentations were faultless. It was a tough decision, however Eastbourne College were well deserved winners. Their design was well thought out, featured some great design detail and their presentation was exceptional. Bloor Homes is very much looking forward to building this house on one our developments. “
Rebe and Ella will now work with Bloor Homes on the step by step process of building a house, from planning applications to handing the keys over to the owner. Last year’s winners, a team of four girls from Wycombe High School, are currently working with Bloor Homes on their home design. Construction on their design is due to be complete by the end of August 2014 on the Shefford Leys development.
