Computing, Engineering and 
The Built Environment Round-up #2

There's been a lot going on in the faculty of Computing, Engineering and The Built Environment this month, from new award successes to Industry Site Visits. Join us in celebrating these successes!

1. DMT Alumni's Film 'S.P.U.D' was nominated at the Birmingham Film Festival

A girl who is going through a pandemic and is in lockdown so decides to build a robot companion. You can actually watch the short film here.

The VFX included are the compositing of the robot into the shots as well as rotoscoping around the actress whenever she is in front of the robot, there's also a shot where she's carrying the TV that will be his head and that TV doesn't actually exist it was a green box we replaced with a digital model and also there's a shot of a picture of a family, that was also digital. 

"It was an honour to be nominated for best special effects as it was a project we were all passionate about and allowed us all to really demonstrate how much we had learned over the course of our time at BCU. I felt great pride in seeing the time and work that had been put into S.P.U.D was being recognised and was nominated alongside works that have been produced by major visual effects titans such as Weta Digital." - Daniel Gregory

2. Built Environment Students Visit Prague

Students from three UG courses in the Department for Built Environment joined up with students from University of Oklahoma, Auburn University and Roger Williams University to participate in the annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Region 8 competition. The event was held at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Czech Tech University in Prague.There was a total of 13 teams from across the UK, Ireland, Czech Republic and the USA participating. As region 8 Director of ASC I was the Master of Ceremonies for the days of competition.

In the International Design & Build track, sponsored by local firm Strabag, two BCU teams were once again in a very competitive field. The BCU / University of Oklahoma team faced some challenging circumstances on the day of presenting their ideas to industry and unfortunately weren’t placed. 

The BCU / Auburn University team were greatly successful and were placed 1^st The next stage is to attend the ASC Region 5 competition in Dallas, Texas, in February 2023 to defend their honour and strive to receive the prize.

3. Triple win at TIGA Awards for Dr Carlo Harvey

BCU’s Future Games and Graphics Team won three awards at the recent Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) Awards. Firstly, at the TIGA UK Games Education Awards, BCU won two awards, one for Excellence in University-Industry Collaboration, the second was for Outstanding Games Lecturer, which Director of Future Games and Graphics Carlo Harvey won for providing the best learning for our students. More recently, BCU won the award for Best Educational Institution at the TIGA Games Industry awards. 

The most recent award success of Best Education Institution was awarded to Birmingham City University at the TIGA Games Industry Awards in recognition for the excellence of its BSc Computer Games Technology course student outcomes, measured student experience and continued commitment to industry engagement. 

Carlo Harvey said: “I am beyond proud to announce my team and I have won the TIGA Games Education Award for Excellence in University-Industry Collaboration for BSc Computer Games Technology.

4. Built Environment Industry Site Visit to Taylor Wimpey | Stratford Upon Avon

First-year students across our built environment courses get the chance to visit one of the largest British homebuilding companies, Taylor Wimpey, during semester one. We work closely with Taylor Wimpey and value providing students with a range of opportunities to network with employers and gain as much industry experience as possible.

During the site visits, students have a tour of the construction site to learn about construction in various stages of progress. They receive a talk from Taylor Wimpey staff in the sales suite about the many different pressures which affect delivery of a housing development. They also view a range of prototype homes and discuss future drivers for house design. 

Tim Lightfoot, Managing Director of Taylor Wimpey West Midlands, said: “We thank the students and University for their support and taking part in helping the next generation make their way into our terrific industry.”

See the video of the site visit here.