UEL engineering students take first prize
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Published
11 September 2026
Four University of East London (UEL) engineering students have taken joint first prize in a prestigious national competition that challenges the next generation of structural engineers to tackle a complex, real-world design brief.
MSc structural engineering students Harry Dean, Bishow Simkhada, Siva Prasad Goud Lagusani and Samuel Mensah secured the top prize in The Concrete Centre’s 2026 Structural Concrete Student Design Competition, sharing first place with a team from Queen’s University Belfast.
The result puts UEL at the top of a field featuring engineering schools from across the UK, with the University of Leeds taking third place and entries also received from universities including Imperial College London, Edinburgh, and Greenwich.
It is the latest in a remarkable run of success for UEL in the annual competition. The University also took first prize in 2025, after finishing second in each of the previous three years. Since UEL first entered - and won - the competition in 2016, its students have secured one of the top prizes eight times in 11 years.
Putting engineering skills to the test
Run annually by The Concrete Centre in partnership with the Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels (CARES), the competition tasks civil and structural engineering students to produce a complete structural design in response to an industry brief, working as though they were part of a professional consulting engineering team.
This year’s ‘Portland House’ challenge asked students to design a complex residential development featuring four floors of accommodation above a ground-floor gym and leisure space, with underground parking below — testing their ability to solve the kind of competing structural demands faced by professional engineers.
The UEL team proposed two solutions - reinforced concrete and a post-tensioned alternative - incorporating a transfer structure to accommodate the car park below. Judges praised the clarity and quality of their submission, particularly its drawings, calculations, and strong comparison of the two approaches.
Leaders in the field
Dr Ali Abbas, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at UEL, who supported the students through the competition alongside Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) visiting professor Dr Karl Micallef, said:
Winning the first prize against the strongest civil and structural engineering departments in the country is no small achievement - it shows that Harry, Bishow, Siva and Samuel can operate at a genuinely professional standard, weighing up real design alternatives and defending their decisions the way a practising structural engineer would.
“I’m immensely proud of them, and this result is a strong endorsement of the standard of teaching and student work coming out of our engineering department.
“This fantastic achievement continues UEL’s outstanding track record and history of podium finishes in this prestigious student design competition. This sustained success reflects the high calibre of our students’ work.”
Real world experience
MSc student Harry Dean said:
Winning first prize in The Concrete Centre Student Structural Competition is something I’m extremely proud of. It was particularly rewarding to combine my engineering judgement with the knowledge I’ve developed throughout my MSc and apply both to the project. To have our design recognised at a national level made all the work we put into the competition feel very worthwhile.”
The students will be formally presented with their certificates at The Concrete Centre’s autumn seminar at the Institution of Structural Engineers’ headquarters in London on Thursday, 19 November 2026.
Reflecting on how his MSc has helped him build the skills to take on challenges such as the competition - and apply them in the real world - Harry added:
“Studying at UEL has allowed me to build on my industry experience and develop a much deeper understanding of the theory behind structural engineering.
“Modules such as Advanced Structural Analysis and Structural Dynamics and Stability have strengthened my understanding of structural behaviour, while Design in Steel and Concrete gave me the opportunity to further develop this and apply what I had learned to realistic and challenging design projects.
“The course has also helped develop the teamwork, communication, and professional skills needed to work effectively on projects such as The Concrete Centre competition.”