Building Facilities - Building Relationships

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28 July 2016 | Updated 01 January 1970

State-of-the-art facilities are coming soon for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students at Northumbria University as facilities are undergoing a £6.7 million transformation.

Construction work is currently underway at Ellison Building at City Campus on refurbished building, laboratories and facilities which will introduce new technology to the University and support the launch of new degree programmes, such as Automotive Engineering, Civil Engineering and Physics. Significant investments in new technology include a bespoke Engine Test Cell facility, wind tunnel, scaled tutorial mock-ups of working automotive systems, 50-tonne test frame and actuator, scanning electron microscope and improved 3D printing facilities.

The project, co-funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, will create and equip new laboratories to deliver new undergraduate and integrated Masters programmes in Automotive Engineering, Civil Engineering, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science. The facilities will also enhance existing research and teaching activity for the University’s current 3,500+ STEM students, while helping Northumbria develop even stronger collaborations with industry.

The Executive Dean of Engineering and Environment, is Professor Glen McHale. He said: “This investment demonstrates the University’s ambition to become a national beacon for STEM education.”

50 of the best

Northumbria’s students have been hailed for their ‘talent, passion and professionalism’ by a company about to employ its 50th placement from the University.

Students from Northumbria’s department of Architecture and Built Environment have been impressing staff at property development company, Adderstone Group, for more than 10 years. Based in Newcastle, the group has a property development portfolio of £100 million.

One of the company’s success stories is James Atkinson who graduated from Northumbria in 2008. Atkinson, who studied Planning and Development Surveying, had a work placement at Adderstone Group in 2005 and was kept on; rising through the ranks to become their Development Director last year. Atkinson said: “Undoubtedly my work placement back in 2005 initially enabled me to secure invaluable training and experience and gave me the opportunity to prove myself within Adderstone Group. At the end of the placement I was asked to stay on and develop my career further and from there I gained experience working across the company’s residential lettings, management, and development sectors.

“After progressing through the business over the last few years, in 2015 I became Development Director and now lead a team of in-house architects and surveyors as well as managing relationships with external partners working on our nation-wide development portfolio.”

Northumbria University’s Architecture and Built Environment courses have an incredibly strong international industry network. Students have benefited from working with household names such as Sir Robert McAlpine, Faulkner Brown, Network Rail, Faithful & Gould, Barratt, Turner & Townsend, Laing O’Rourke and many more.

Allison Harrison, Adderstone Group Operations Director said: “In the years that we have been running this joint venture with Northumbria University, the students consistently bring fresh ideas, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn and as a result, many have been able to make a significant impression during their placements.

“The scheme has been a success both for the students we recruit and for the vibrancy they add around the business. Many of the students we have welcomed have remained with us or returned to us long after their placements have ended which provides evidence that the scheme works and delivers great people into industry.”

Northumbria works closely with hundreds of companies to provide work placements across a range of courses.

Picture: Northumberland Engineering Students

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 28 July 2016

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