The RIBA ICE Bursary ran from 2004 to 2010 to support architectural and engineering students and graduates committed to the progress of community and environmental issues in economically deprived areas in the UK or abroad.

The scheme, formerly known as the RIBA/ICE McAslan Bursary, was made possible following generous donations from the architect John McAslan.

The bursary was designed to support projects with a focus on improving or modifying the physical environment to enhance the quality of life for the local community.

Background information about the bursary can be found in 'Beginnings' - a booklet of previous bursary-nominated projects.

 

Recipients of the RIBA ICE Bursary in 2010

Yolanda Chakava - 'Is a well really sustainable? - An engineer's perspective on tackling Nairobi's urban water crisis' - received £9,500

Yolanda is a Chartered Civil Engineer with considerable experience in the water industry. In 2009 she founded a charitable organisation 'Haki Water' to research and develop innovative engineering solutions to promote sustainable water management in developing countries, starting in Kenya. Yolanda's project aims to build on her initial findings to assess in detail the sustainability and environmental impacts of constructing well projects in the urban slums of Nairobi. Her initial research indicates that many well projects are executed as a 'single-solution' option and lack a sustainable approach, including plans for long-term maintenance. The key objective of her project is to develop a sustainable approach to implement innovative and cost-efficient solutions, providing long-term value to the people and communities served. It is hoped that the outputs of Yolanda's project will better inform the industry practice and encourage evidence-based decision making. Her project is due to be completed in March 2011.

To contact Yolanda Chakava for more information about her project please email yolanda.chakava@hakiwater.org|

 

Sarah Considine and Melanie Bax - 'We ♥ the Suburbs' - received £5,000

'We ♥ the Suburbs' will work closely with the community of St Luke's in Southend-on-Sea in an effort to understand and document the true motivations and concerns of suburbanites. These findings will be translated into a temporary built form for the summer of 2010 that will address something unique about the community. The project is innovative as no predeterminations have been drawn about the physical outcome. The community of St Luke's will be offered various opportunities to contribute ideas and energy from early brief development through to construction. This will result in the community shaping its own suburban environment.

The objectives of 'We ♥ the Suburbs' can be categorised into two main distinctions: community objectives and professional objectives. 'Community objectives' refers to the aims to serve the suburban community and make positive changes to suburban environments in collaboration with its residents. 'Professional objectives' refers to Sarah's and Melanie's aims to highlight the overlooked territory of suburbia within the architectural profession and to test and document the updated role of the architect within this environment.

Melanie Bax and Sarah Considine are both Masters graduates from the University of Sheffield. They have a keen interest in community participation and how the role of the architect can be expanded to include social and political contexts. They have worked in various practices in London, New York and Madrid. They are currently working with CABE to expand their case study library to include participatory and collaborative projects.

For further details about the project please visit http://weheartthesuburbs.blogspot.com/| or write to weheartthesuburbs@gmail.com|.

Recipients of the RIBA/ICE McAslan Bursary 2008

Dr Heather Cruickshank - 'Community Infrastructure in Rural Nigeria' - received £2,000.

Clips featuring photographs taken during the work on the project can be viewed on YouTube:

Sandbag Ring Culvert project|

Gabion footbridge|

Construction of Adobe building|

Sophie Handler - 'Resistant Sitting. A Pensioner's Alternative Street Furniture Guide' - received £2,500.

Ripin Kalra - to revisit three sites in India affected by earthquakes and cyclones in the 1990s - received £6,000.

Asif Khan and Julia King - 'Mass Sustainability: Zero Carbon Chair and School Desk' - received £3,000.

Nikki Linsell, Article 25 - to work alongside The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW) - received £6,850.

Recipients of the RIBA/ICE McAslan Bursary 2007

Asif Kahn & Julia King - 'One Year House', refugee housing on the Thai-Burma border - received £7,242.

Sophie Handler - 'How to Set Up Workable Interventions in Public Space for Older People in Newham' - received £5,000.

Nikki Linsell represents a team from Article 25 working on a project for the 'Conservation of Saxon Buildings in Transylvania' - received £3,290.

Julia Bouvy - 'Regeneration of Embankment Life in West Africa' - received £1,000.

 

Recipients of the RIBA McAslan Bursary 2006

Claudia Amico - Building a workshop centre in the Community of Women (Cité des Femmes), Senegal - received £6,500.

Craig Bamford - The displacement of Tuavi Ambau village, India - received £4,250.

 

Recipients of the RIBA McAslan Bursary 2005

Joann Tang - Pilot school outreach project - received £2,500.

Pascale Scheurer - Introducing People in Space – the new generation of architecture - received £2,500.

Henry Travers, Elizabeth Babister, Allan McRobbie - Proposal to develop a prototype third generation emergency family shelter - received £10,000.