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Scholarships and Awards

Our current prizes are: Royal Charter International Research Award

David Tong Cup In collaboration with the BRE Trust, this award
seeks exceptional young individuals from the
In association with London South Bank construction sector to undertake an innovative,
University awarded to a First Class Honours topical study relating to construction, planning,
Degree in Construction Management graduate design systems and processes or a market
of that year.
study in a country of their choice. The winning
Constructors Prize applicant receives £7,000 towards the cost of
their study and the publication of their work
In association with The University of through the BRE Trust publishing company; IHS
Westminster, this prize is awarded to a First BRE Press.
Class Honours Degree graduate of that year
QUEST- Institution of Civil Engineers &
Worshipful Company of Constructors Award
Our current awards are:
The QUEST award in partnership with the ICE is
The Royal Charter Award for Excellence in for ICE members that wish to undertake a
Construction project that contributes to both their personal
and career development. The award offers
The Royal Charter Award is part of the £2,500 of financial support to help with your
Constructors’ Charter Legacy Project which is chosen project, which will typically last 18
given in honour and recognition of excellence in months. A representative from ICE and the WCC
construction. Recipients of the award are will provide guidance and act as a mentor
nominated by members of the Company. throughout your project.

The Faculty of Architecture and Surveying Scholarship 2013-14 was awarded to Ryan J Close for
his paper on “Determining the most Cost Effective Renewable Technology to Retrofit to Domestic
Dwellings- Ground Source Heat Pump vs. Biomass Boilers”.
The study investigated the cost effectiveness of retrofitting Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) and
Biomass boilers to domestic dwellings in rural areas.

It compared them to the popular off mains gas solution of oil and also investigated the projected
effects of the new Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and how contractors could qualify for
the Micro-generation Certification Scheme (MCS). The questions posed by the dissertation where
answered by use of three research methods. A review of literature was carried out in order to
ascertain the reasoning behind using renewable technologies, what financial aid was available to the
individual homeowner and limiting, installation, planning and lifespan of the individual technologies.
The knowledge gained in the literature review was then used to draft questions to be answered in
interviews with a sample of local MCS certified contractors. Costings data was also collected from
these contractors from previous projects that they had undertaken. This was used to build a whole
life cycle cost model projection for the life span of the technologies, which included the RHI
payments, the maintenance of the system and its running cost. The research obtained by the three
methods was that both biomass and GSHPs were cost effective when compared to oil systems but
the choice of technology depends highly on the dwelling it is being retrofitted to.

36 | Autumn 2015 | The Journal of the Worshipful Company of Constructors