Winner – Erin from Waingels!
Congratulations, Erin from Waingels College, on winning the competition vote for your idea to transform Reading Prison into a boarding school! Here is Erin proudly holding her prize of an iPad.
Commenting on her victory, gained with 45% of the 9,234 votes, Erin said: “Thank you to everyone who voted for my idea; I really never expected to win. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and I really hope that the developers transform the prison into something wonderful and accessible for everyone.”
Erin’s head of year, Paddy Pole, added: “As a school, we are very proud of Erin in winning the Reading Prison competition. We are so proud of the initiative she took to engage in such a fantastic competition and the creativity she showed with her idea of a boarding school.”
Take a look at our article for the shortlisted entries. We were also really impressed by other entries which weren’t shortlisted and a selection of these feature in our earlier article.
We would like to offer our congratulations to all of our shortlisted pupils for their brilliant ideas and participation in the competition.
If you haven’t already, you can still listen to or read a transcript of the podcast.
MEET THE EXPERTS
Learn more about the experts who’ll represent your ideas during the podcast, David Hourihan, James Ritson, Jan Wilcox, Natasha Collins.
NATASHA COLLINS
Natasha is a chartered surveyor who graduated with a MSc in Surveying from the University of Reading and UCEM in 2015. Natasha is the module leader for the property management modules and has specialised in property management since 2010.
Natasha also runs her own surveying firm, NC Real Estate, which specialises in asset management and property investment strategies. One of her firms pioneering movements is its Members Club which brings together a global community of landlords and investors to discuss, learn and commit to building a sustainable future for property.
Natasha is also an ambassador for LionHeart, the benevolent fund for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and their families and works in partnership with them on mental health and wellbeing campaigns to provide help and support to professionals in the industry with these tough subjects.
DAVID HOURIHAN
David Hourihan qualified as a chartered surveyor in 1994 while working in Ireland. There he specialised in the sales, lettings and acquisitions of commercial property in Dublin.
In 2002 David moved to England and worked for a number of nationwide and international property companies on the asset management of a variety of properties including shopping centres, retail and leisure parks, industrial estates and offices across the United Kingdom.
He is a former student of CEM (now UCEM) having achieved his Post-Graduate Diploma in Property Investment in 2002 and then the MSc Property Investment in 2008.
In 2009 David joined as an associate tutor, became a full time tutor in 2011 and is now the programme leader for MSc Real Estate.
He also chairs APC interviews for the RICS.
JAMES RITSON
An architecturally trained building conservator specialising in sustainability and recording of the historic built environment. He is currently the programme leader for MSc Building Surveying at University College of Estate Management. James was previously a senior lecturer in sustainability of the existing built environment at Kingston University, teaching on the Building Surveying and historic building conservation courses.
James previously worked at MBP Architects and Carden and Godfrey Architects, on a variety of projects, including the Palace of Westminster, Beverly Minster and many smaller commercial and residential schemes.
James is a member two ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) Scientific committees the UK National Scientific Committee on Digital Heritage and the International Scientific Committee on Energy and Sustainability.
James was made a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society in 2010 for his work on sustainability of the built environment. He has published widely on sustainability, health and conservation issues and his main research interests are sustainability of the existing built environment and the recording of existing buildings.
JAN WILCOX
Jan started working for UCEM in 1998 as an associate tutor, a year after completing her MBA with the college. She spent 20 years working, mainly in asset management, for a wide variety of organisations including Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Hammerson, The Crown Estate, Transport for London and a local private practice.
Jan is now a portfolio worker, combining her interests in property and education. She teaches for a number of universities, both in property and general management subjects, runs her own small property and educational consultancy business, is an examiner for the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM), and is a member of the regulatory panel of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA). She is also co-author of the 4th Edition of Property Asset Management.
Jan is a fellow of the RICS and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has a PhD in Management Studies from the University of Essex.