Students Stadium Challenge

College HNC Construction students were asked if they could build York a new Community Stadium for £15 million and they took up the challenge.

City of York Council’s community stadium team worked with the students to introduce a ‘real-life’ scheme into their course. The students were given the task of designing a stadium at Monks Cross. Their brief included creating a facility that met both football and rugby league requirements; brought benefits to the wider community; had a minimum of 6,000 seats; was commercially and environmentally sustainable and came in under a £15m budget.

The five groups of students presented their feasibility and design plans, costings, construction methods and building materials to a panel of lecturers and the council’s community stadium team. Two schemes were chosen to be presented to the council’s Directors

Dean Starkey, construction tutor at York College, said: “This project has given the students a taste of real initiatives and a chance to showcase their talents. It’s been a really exciting opportunity for the students to work on a tangible and complex community scheme.”

Tim Atkins, from the council’s Community Stadium team, said: “We were really impressed with the standard of work from the students and their innovative ideas. We are delighted that we can use the project, as it progresses, as a successful learning tool.”