A team of students from the Civil Engineering and Construction Department at LYIT were runners-up at the the northern regional heat of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) 'Student Challenge 2013'.  The competition took place in LYIT last week and included 7 groups of students from colleges and universities across Ulster.  The teams were tasked with solving a construction management related problem designed to showcase their construction knowledge in front of CIOB members, judges, lecturers and fellow students - a pressurised and nerve racking task.

Representing LYIT were Eilis Mee (Carrickmacross), a BSc in Quantity Surveying year 3 student, Hugh Gallagher (Letterkenny) and Martin Sheridan (Portnablagh), both in 4th year BSc Hons Fire Safety Engineering, and Paul Bradley (Buncrana) studying the BSc Hons in Sustainable Construction Management (4th year). Austin Sammon and Rory McShane, Lecturers at LYIT, mentored the LYIT team and have accompanied their winning teams to the competition in Northern Ireland for the last three years.  This year, the first time it was held in Donegal, the LYIT narrowly lost out to the University of Ulster. The South Eastern Regional College (Lisburn) team followed, a close third.

The LYIT Lecturers were understandably very proud of how the team performed, “Everyone did very well under the tight time constraints.  Whilst there was initial disappointment, to win a place in the top 3, competing against 6 other teams in a notoriously difficult competition, is quite an achievement.”

Paul Hannigan, President LYIT, congratulated the LYIT team on their success, “Once again LYIT students have done exceptionally well.  I’d like to thank the staff involved in this prestigious competition, who have dedicated their time and, of course, the students who took part.  It shows the calibre and the talent of our students who are competing on a national level.  Well done.”