Bridge design duo win top award

Two University of Teesside students have beaten rivals from all over the country, to win a prestigious bridge design prize, presented at Cambridge University.

Neil Darby and David Shea, who both graduated with First Class honours degrees in Civil Engineering last year, were presented with the Concrete Bridge Development Group prize at a special ceremony held recently in Magdalene College, Cambridge.

The latest prize follows other accolades for the talented duo at the University's graduation ceremony, held in Middlesbrough Town Hall last November. Then Neil, 22, of Milton Close, Brotton, won the Institute of Civil Engineering Prize and the Cecil M Yuill Prize; and David, 23, of Premier Road, Ormesby, Middlesbrough won the John Henderson Design Prize and the Marshalls Group Prize.

This is the second time in the last six years that Teesside students have won this prestigious prize, which this year was awarded at a special event in the 600-year-old Magdalene College.

Now the pair, who are continuing their double act by working for civil engineers, Mouchel, at the company's Northallerton offices, are celebrating once again after being invited to enter their final year degree projects in the Concrete Bridge competition. This involved designing and planning an innovative rail and road crossing for both cars and high-speed trains.

Both are over the moon at winning the award and Neil says: "My short-listed entry helped me get this job." David said: "Winning the competition and the trip down to Cambridge was the icing on the cake."

Neil added: "We both had a great time at university and really enjoyed the experience. The year-out in industry allowed us to put what we learnt into practice and helped us both get good jobs."

Both are now working towards their chartered engineer status. They were supervised on their final year projects by Professor Brian Hobbs, an expert on bridge building design who now heads the University of Teesside's Research and Development office. He said: "I am delighted for the lads. It demonstrates that our engineering students can compete with the best in the country."

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