Lee Allender, a degree apprentice at Ipswich-based structural engineering company, Superstructures, has been presented with a ‘Professional Apprentice of the Year’ award by the Suffolk Joint Construction Committee.
Watched on by over 350 guests representing the county’s construction industry, Lee picked up his award at the annual SJCC supper which recently took place at Trinity Park.
Lee, who is in the 4th year of his degree apprenticeship and is studying part-time for a BSc in Civil Engineering at Anglia Ruskin University, was delighted to receive the recognition from his peers in the industry.
He said: “I find the most exciting aspect of being an apprentice Structural Engineer is the diversity of the projects I get to work on. Every single project I tackle daily presents its own set of challenges, which I take great pleasure in, because there are often numerous ways to solve them. In my role, I am allowed the freedom to think creatively, and I enjoy the challenge of being innovative. I get immense satisfaction in seeing my designs and details come to life on site.”
Darren Noller is Senior Structural Engineer at Superstructures and Lee’s mentor. He said: “I have been proud to see Lee develop from a new apprentice starting straight from finishing his A Levels, into a conscientious and reliable member of the team. He has also done really well academically, which means that once he graduates this summer, he will be able to become a professionally qualified Incorporated Engineer within the next year.”
As well as the apprentice awards, the evening saw the presentation of the Design and Craftsmanship Awards by the RIBA Suffolk – awards which recognise both the best architecture in the county and the Suffolk based teams who have delivered them.
Superstructures was also part of the project teams that picked up two of evening’s awards – both for houses situated on the Suffolk Coast.
They were:
- Salty Dog, which won the RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award in the Alterations and Extensions category. Designed by Andrew Hughes Architects, the project was an extension and full internal reconfiguration of a chalet bungalow in a coastal Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and SSSI. Superstructures was the Structural Engineer, the contractor was SJW Developments and the landscape designer was Luke Heydon.
- Martins,which won the RIBA Suffolk Design Commendation Award. The project was to construct a one-off house that maximised the dwelling’s setting adjacent to RSPB Minsmere. Again designed by Andrew Hughes Architects with Superstructures as Structural Engineers, it was project managed by Dove Design and Build, built by Avoncrown.