Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Alex Maclaren
‘Teambuild UK’ has been running annual training competitions for multidisciplinaryteams of young construction professionals for 20 years. I beganby involvement in 2005 and am now a Trustee of the charity.I present this competition is a test case for new forms of delivery of learningin construction. The annual brief for Teambuild is built around a real ‘liveproject’ with real data and real problems, and the resulting competitionjudged by active construction professionals and the real clients of the site.This is a cross- industry venture requiring diverse groups of young graduatesto work together outside of their comfort zone. This structure is increasinglyrelevant as the delivery of real-world projects move further towardscross-functional teams. Feedback on the competition from participants andindustry sponsors is overwhelmingly positive.We run a loose-fit structure, and pride ourselves in the transformative natureof our product, working with a rolling exec team of recent past-participants,developing the practical delivery, ensuring we maintain relevance to theparticipant core every year. The competition is recognised CPD and receivesfunding from construction Institutions and national bodies.The practice of architecture is changing, and so must our methods of teachingarchitecture become less insular, more engaging, more ambiguous. Thefunding framework is changing, as is student investment and expectation. Ibelieve an inclusive horizontal approach to teaching, learning and research,increased professional integration, which engages and benefits industry,government and academia, will develop to meet these changing needs.I will present the current competition format as a case study, and refer torecognised critical and creative pedagogic methods in anaylsing the potentialbenefits of this approach. I will propose the benefits of this format toindustry, academia and the student, and relate the delivery of the competitionto architectural education criteria and Europe and the US (eg RIBAand NAAB)Key Issues arising in presentation: cross-disciplinary working, industry engagement,funding, BIM (Building Information Modelling) integration, linksbetween industry and academia
Volume Editors
Martha Thorne & Xavier Costa
ISBN
978-0-935502-83-1
