Post by Nick Austin

SGP’s Leicester office recently played host to 30 second-year architecture students from Loughborough University.

It began earlier this year when SGP was invited to assess the project work of Loughborough University’s second year architecture students. I went along and was really impressed by the talent and enthusiasm of the cohort. I invited them to visit SGP’s Leicester office to get a feel for what an architect’s day-to-day life was like.”

Five 15-20 minute presentations began with me giving an introduction to SGP and how the practice works and sector specialisms.

Follow-up talks included two real-life project case studies, plus an overview of the impact of BIM before rounding off with a lively look at 3D visualisations using in-house equipment.

The visit finished with the cohort splitting into four groups and sitting down with SGP staff members to ask questions about what they’ve seen.

Talking with Dr Schmidt, who leads the course at Loughborough University, we found we shared an enthusiasm for bringing education and industry closer together and helping prepare new architects, not only with technical knowledge, but more of an understanding of how an architecture practice works. Having just designed our own Leicester office, from the ground up, it made the ideal venue for a visit to show the workings of an active business.”

The visit generated very positive feedback:

We were very fortunate that SGP opened their doors to us for the afternoon. It was great for our students to get snapshots of the practice, its portfolio and the newly constructed and occupied office environment. It’s important for our students to be exposed to practices to translate the theoretical knowledge they’ve been learning into the arena of practice. It was good for students to see how BIM is operationalised in practice and how different visualisations work. What they enjoy doing in studio can be translated into selling architectural design concepts in practice. Dr Robert Schmidt III, Loughborough University  

‘The tour around the office was very insightful and allowed us to learn about what it would be like working in a professional office.’ Daniel Jordan, Student

‘The small group discussions were engaging. It was interesting to hear about the integral details of the building design; plus, the conversations helped us prepare for our placement next year.‘ Laura Trewern, Student

‘I enjoyed the quick talks. The enthusiasm of Nick (Austin) was inspiring.’ James Fitzmaurice, Student

“Given the enthusiasm of the students and the positive reactions of our staff, we are definitely looking at making this a regular event.” Nick Austin, Practice Director, Stephen George + Partners