Students experience the building of the future of Warwick Sport

Sports & Wellness Hub

The development of our new Sport and Wellness Hub has given our students exciting experiences of a real construction project.

University of Warwick students from the School of Engineering had the opportunity to access a large scale construction project, only a five minute walk from their department.

Undergraduate students have undertaken a number of site visits to the new sports hub development, led by Dr Gary Fowmes, an Associate Prof in Geotechnical Engineering within the School.

A range of engineering

For students, the site is of particular interest as there are many different civil engineering disciplines currently ongoing. From the foundation work on the building and sports pitches, site landscaping and drainage, to more recently the steel frame and pool construction.

For the first and second year Engineering students these visits have given them a real flavour of civil engineering before they specialise into their chosen engineering field.

Bringing the classroom to life

While it may have been hopeful that the visits would sway students towards the civil engineering stream one students commented:

“I would say the visit made me realise the importance of having a background in other engineering disciplines, regardless of the field you want to specialise in”.

At the start of term, fourth year Masters Engineering students also visited the site as they poured the building foundations. Some comments from students included:

The visit was very useful and allowed me to visualise what we’re doing in class [and] it makes more sense when you can see it”.

Insight into all areas

Warwick Estates team and the main contractor Willmott Dixon, and in particular Nick Preedy, have been exceptionally accommodating.

Students have been invited back for ad-hoc visits as the project progresses, and into technical and progress meetings. This has given them sight of the real inner workings of a construction project.

Opening Spring 2019

Discover more about the Sports and Wellness Hub, a new world-class sports facility coming to Coventry.

Article credit: Dr Gary Fowmes