Undergraduates Megan Peeks and Victoria Gosden have been chosen to represent the South West region at the annual National Association of Women in Property (WiP) National Student Awards.
Megan, who is studying architecture and planning at UWE, and Victoria, a landscape architecture student at the University of Gloucestershire, were announced as regional winners of the WiP Student Awards at a ceremony in Bristol.
At the event tutors and students from universities across the region, including UWE, Plymouth, Bath, Gloucestershire and the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, joined WiP South West committee members, surveyors, interior designers, contractors, lawyers and other professionals from the built environment for the awards, which took place at law firm Thrings’ office.
The awards are open to female second-year students who are reading property and construction-related subjects and who are hoping to pursue a career in the built environment. Shortlisted hopefuls were interviewed by a panel of high-profile industry judges who then decided on the winners.
On the judging panel were WiP South West chair and Construction and engineering solicitor at Thrings Natalia Sokolov as well as directors, HR professionals and associates from DTZ, Bouygues, Stride Treglown Architects and Integral Build.
Megan and Victoria now compete against other regional winners at the WiP National Student Awards in London on September 22.
Winning the regional award will also increase their chances of obtaining a work placement in 2015-2016 – which opens up the possibility of securing full-time employment within the industry after they graduate.
Victoria said: “I was really pleased with the judges’ feedback about my presentation, but to go on and win the regional award is a huge and unexpected bonus. The whole awards experience has given me a fantastic opportunity to learn about the broad and exciting range of career options that the property industry offers as well as meet and talk to other students whose career paths are so entwined with mine.”
Now in their ninth year, the awards provide a significant focus for WiP – the organisation that seeks to enhance the profile of women in the property and construction industry sectors. This year’s regional awards were sponsored by Thrings, Integral Build and Stride Treglown.
Thrings associate and WiP Regional Student Awards co-ordinator Naomi Butler said: “The awards have undergone a huge increase in popularity since their inception, and continue to celebrate the wealth of talent, enthusiasm and ambition coming into the property industry through universities. This year the standard and number of entries was higher than ever, which made the judging process particularly tough.”
Pictured, from left: Victoria Gosden and Megan Peeks with WiP South West chair Natalia Sokolov
