Surrey Civil Engineering student claims second prize in Concrete Centre competition
Roochie Cosico, an MSc Structural Engineering Distance Learning student based in the UAE, placed second in the Concrete Centre's annual Structural Concrete Competition.
The University of Surrey's Professor Juan Sagaseta and Roochie Cosico with the Concrete Centre competition judges and sponsors.
Roochie Cosico with his award at the Concrete Centre, London, November 6th 2025.
Roochie Cosico and Prof. Juan Sagaseta at the Concrete Centre, London, November 6th 2025.
The Structural Concrete competition gives students the chance to present their work to prospective employers, enhance their portfolio and develop skills in communication, collaboration, planning and project management.
This year, the students were challenged to design a six-storey hotel with a single storey feature restaurant over the adjoining dock. Entries were evaluated according to:
- Compliance with the project brief
- Safety, function, stability and robustness
- Material efficiency and sustainability
- Buildability, constructability and maintainability
- Speed of construction and cost effectiveness
- Imagination, flair, aesthetic appreciation and innovation
The 2025 competition was sponsored by CARES, the leading independent international constructional steels product certification body delivering confidence in the performance, provenance and quality of safety-critical reinforcement products entering the construction supply chain. CARES are the internationally renowned Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels.
Roochie's winning design
The proposed solution featured a building roof garden and a restaurant with scenic views.
Detail of the design's complex structural connections #1.
Detail of the design's complex structural connections #2.
Awarding Roochie second prize, the judges commented:
"Roochie Cosico from the University of Surrey showed a good understanding of structural principles in coming up with his precast concrete solution. Very neat and well-presented drawings and a clear, concise and specific sustainability report completed his submission."
Roochie himself said: "As part of my MSc module in Reinforced Concrete Design, the coursework brief aligned with the 2025 Structural Concrete Competition. I applied the learnings from the module to a practical design scenario, emphasizing sustainability and structural efficiency."
The University of Surrey's Juan Sagaseta, Professor of Structural Robustness, added: “It is extremely rewarding to see one of our distance learning students performing at the top of a prestigious National Competition in Structural Engineering. Roochie showed extraordinary design skills with outstanding attention to detail, and produced innovative ideas around the life cycle of the building proposed. His coursework was preselected in the Concrete Building Design module to represent the University of Surrey at National level, and we were thrilled about the outcome and excellent feedback from the judges”.
Roochie's prize marks the second time in four years that a Surrey student has claimed competition honours, following on from MSc Civil Engineering student Ashley Anderson's first place in the 2021 edition.
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