Yesterday we shared how our students use VR in the Holodeck so to balance things out, today we thought we’d show the other end of the analogue-digital spectrum, our fortnightly Speed Sketching Club. Every other week, WLVArchitecture students (and the odd staff member 😁) grab pens, set a timer, and sharpen their eye by capturing details around our Springfield Campus. It’s fast, social, and brilliant for building confidence.

Quick sketching boosts observation, design thinking and communication and hand drawing helps you really see space and ideas which is why it stays hugely relevant in architectural education and practice. It's great to see students across all years supporting each other during the sessions too 👏

With Springfield’s rich heritage 🏛️ and award-winning building as our backdrop, there’s always something new to draw! If you fancy joining us, bring a sketchbook, we’ll bring the timers and the Haribo sweets (for energy 😁) ⏱️🖊️

Our Level 6 BSc (Hons) Architectural Design Technology students have been using the Holodeck facility at our Springfield Campus to review and refine their studio design projects in Virtual Reality. In collaborative VR sessions using the amazing Arkio (thanks to Johan Hanegraaf and the whole Arkio team for their ongoing support 🙏), they brought in their Autodesk Revit design models, navigated them at full scale, marked up areas for improvement, and co-reviewed live with peers and tutors, all in the same collaborative virtual space 🤝

Guided by our Dr Nigel Moore Moore and his years of commercial experience in VR simulation development for AEC, students use our Holodeck to access leading visualisation tech: VR/AR headsets, a visualisation wall and omni-directional treadmills so they can test designs during modules and get continual feedback before final assessment submission. The tech we use is industry-leading and hands-on, providing relevant learning that gets students ready for industry 🚀

We’re thrilled to share more good news from the Faculty Annual Awards:
🏆Professor David Heesom – Winner of Leader of the Year award
🏆Dr. Mo Tammo - Winner of Module Leader of the Year award
🏆Olive White – Shortlisted in the Student Experience & Engagement award

Huge congratulations to our colleagues for the recognition of their leadership, teaching excellence and student-first approach. It’s brilliant to see our team’s impact celebrated across the faculty 🚀

These wins build on a standout year across our WLVArchitecture community, including:
🎉Samantha Elliott, BSc(Hons) Architecture - Regional winner & national finalist, Women in Property Awards.
🎉Joel Woodward, BSc(Hons) Architectural Design Technology - National winner, CIAT Dissertation/Report of the Year.
🎉Danielle Edwards, BSc(Hons) Architectural Design Technology - Chancellor’s Prize at Summer graduation.
🎉Professor David Heesom & Dr Nigel Moore - Excellence in Knowledge Exchange at the University’s Research Awards.
🎉Plus six of our students were selected to showcase their work at the West Midlands “Best in the Built Environment” event hosted by Chetwoods, a brilliant platform for emerging regional talent.

A fantastic way to round out 2025! Congratulations to everyone in our WLVArchitecture community. Here’s to an amazing 2026! 🚀

🤝 Huge thanks to Michael Parinchy and the team at ProBuild360 for inviting some of our final-year students to a live site visit on War Lane, Birmingham - touring homes at different stages of construction and seeing airtight retrofit in progress 🏠🔨

Getting onto site made the learning real. Students could trace how design intent meets delivery, discussing:
🔹 Sequencing and access choices that shape real-world buildability
🔹 Where and how airtightness is created and verified in domestic retrofit
🔹 Critical fire-stopping/compartmentation that keep residents safe

Visits like this show our students why early collaboration between architects and builders is critical for quality outcomes, turning drawings into robust decisions. Thank you again to Michael and all at ProBuild360 for the insight and generous Q&A 🙌

📸: Level 6 Architecture Students

We were delighted to see Dr Nigel Moore representing WLVArchitecture as an invited speaker at the UK Brownfield Regeneration Summit 2025 in Manchester on 13 November, a national gathering focused on unlocking sustainable brownfield reuse. Nigel presented on how Artificial Intelligence can support every stage of brownfield regeneration and then joined a panel to discuss joined-up data collection and management strategies that optimise site characterisation and restoration.

Drawing on his collaboration with our National Brownfield Institute (NBI), Nigel shared examples of generative design applied to both large and small brownfield sites, showcasing how our research is shaping practice.

Key takeaways from the session:
✅ There is capacity for ~1.41 million homes on brownfield land in England and data remains the major bottleneck.
✅ We must invest in a standardised, structured data backbone to be truly AI-ready.
✅ Human-in-the-loop is essential: AI should co-design with practitioners rather than replace them.

This appearance reflects the national impact of our staff and the way WLVArchitecture connects research, education and industry to address real-world challenges in regeneration.

🏛️ We were delighted that students from across WLVArchitecture were able to take part in the West Midlands Heritage Careers Fair hosted at our fantastic National Brownfield Institute in October 🏛️✨

Alongside professionals from across the heritage sector, we hosted a hashtag#WLVArchitecture stand, and with our students in attendance, it gave them the opportunity to:

✅ Meet employers specialising in building conservation, heritage architecture, archaeology, historic building management and more
✅ Ask questions about volunteering, career pathways and skills
✅ See how their studio projects in heritage architecture, regeneration and conservation connect directly to real careers in practice

The event brought together students, young professionals and career-changers, and it was brilliant to see our students engaging so confidently with organisations who are shaping the future of the historic environment.

A big thank you to West Midlands Heritage and our colleagues at the National Brownfield Institute for organising such an inspiring day and for including our WLVArchitecture students in the conversation.

📸 Photo credits: National Brownfield Institute 👏

👋 We were delighted to welcome students from Thomas Telford UTC into our WLVArchitecture studios a couple of weeks ago 👋

Their visit was perfectly timed with our Vertical Project Week, so they experienced studio life at full speed – busy desks, collaborative pin-ups, models in progress and mixed-year teams working hard on their live design brief.

UTC students had the chance to:
🔹 Explore our studio spaces on Springfield Campus
🔹 Hear more about studying Architecture and Architectural Technology with us
🔹 Watch live project presentations and see just how dynamic, supportive and exciting studio culture can be

It’s always a pleasure to welcome our neighbours from the UTC, and we hope the visit has inspired many of them to continue their journey into architecture and the built environment with us in the future 🚀

🌳 Another successful Vertical Project Week for WLVArchitecture 🌳

During October’s Vertical Week, every student from every year group and course in our department (including our foundation years) came together for a major live design challenge: Timber Un-Build.

Working in mixed-year teams, students explored how low-carbon, timber-led design could improve the pedestrian and cycle connection between our Springfield Campus and Wolverhampton city centre, responding directly to the emerging Six Mile Green development within the Green Innovation Corridor. Their proposals focused on:
🔹 Safety, accessibility and inclusivity
🔹 Wayfinding, lighting and legibility
🔹 Landscape character and overall user experience

To support their work, students engaged with:
✅ Specialist sessions on wood, sustainability and architecture
✅ Case studies of innovative timber buildings
✅ A CPD on timber construction from Michael Parinchy (ProBuild 360)
✅ Attended a fantastic evening organised by Shropshire Society of Architects with a lecture from Yvonne Farrell (Grafton Architects)
✅ An inspiring lecture from Professor Peter MacKeith (University of Arkansas) to give an international perspective on the topic

Across the week, teams worked hard to develop their schemes, producing detailed site analysis, concept diagrams, physical models, final designs culminating in a group presentation – all this while strengthening collaboration, confidence and professional awareness. We were also joined by over 60 students from the Thomas Telford UTC and our Associate Dean, Dr. Ruth Shiner. From everyone in WLVArchitecture we would like to thank Ruth and the Faculty for their support and funding which enables this amazing event happen every year!

Student feedback said it all:
“A great way to work collaboratively. Set the tone of the semester and the year.”
“My ideas were respected and incorporated into the project, which strengthened my confidence.”

This is our fourth annual vertical week and it’s now a highlight of the academic year, putting collaborative architectural education in action.

☕ An early start at our Springfield Campus for this year’s Meet the Employer event ✨

A few weeks ago our students had the opportunity to connect with a wide range of architectural practices and wider built environment employers – exploring roles they can take on during their studies and as they plan for life after graduation.

With employers setting up stands in our Springfield Atrium, students were able to move around freely, network, and have honest, informal conversations about potential future opportunities 🤝

Alongside this, there were supporting workshops on:
🔹 CV writing
🔹 Portfolio presentation
🔹 Interview skills

A huge thank you to all the employers who joined us, and to Dr Paul Hampton for organising this key date in the hashtag#WLVArchitecture calendar.

Last month our academic team were proud to support the Thomas Telford UTC Careers Fair right here on our Springfield Campus 🎓✨

With our Architecture studios and staff offices overlooking the UTC, this partnership couldn’t feel more natural. It was a brilliant opportunity to:
🔹 Talk with students about pathways into Architecture and Architectural Technology
🔹 Highlight the wide range of career routes across the built environment
🔹 Connect with an amazing group of enthusiastic learners – many already taking their first step into the profession through the fantastic T-Level programmes at UTC

We’re excited to keep supporting the next generation of built environment professionals growing on our doorstep.

🏫This semester some of our students are working on a major live project with Walsall Community Association, reimagining a victorian school building as the Black Country Commonwealth House – a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable community hub 🏫✨

Earlier in the summer we digitally captured the building using laser scanning to create a detailed dataset for our students. This semester they’ve taken that work on-site: exploring the spaces in person, studying the building’s character and history, and speaking directly with key stakeholders to understand community needs and ambitions as students begin their design studio projects 🗣️🤝

It’s a brilliant opportunity to connect advanced digital methods with communities, social value, heritage and real-world design challenges – exactly the kind of learning experience we’re proud to offer 💛

⏰ Where did the time go!!! The first half of the semester has flown by 💨

It already feels like a long time since we were welcoming our new hashtag#WLVArchitecture students to campus for Welcome Week in September.

It was a packed week and we kicked off the year with: 📌 Fun activities to build friendships and studio culture 📌 Talks from professional bodies, including RIBA, to connect students with the profession from day one 📌 A fantastic immersive Photography Tour across the City of Wolverhampton, using the city as our open-air studio and exploring the architecture that surrounds us

Now everyone’s settled in, studios are buzzing and it’s all systems go on a wide range of exciting design projects across our Architecture courses.

👀 Keep checking in to see how it started vs how it’s going…

On Thursday, our first-year Architecture and ADT students visited the Capability Brown landscape at Weston Park Enterprises Ltd near Shifnal for their first design module. This project is a brilliant opportunity to translate a real client’s multi-strand brief into an architectural proposal, grounded in site analysis and sound design principles. Special thanks to Gareth Williams for setting up the project, and to Rebecca Alexander, Colin Sweeney and Alison Poole for facilitating the visit. Rebecca’s enthusiasm and clear explanation of the client’s needs on the day were inspiring. Now for the students to get creating!

✈️ Back from Hong Kong… and straight into the studio! 🏗️

It was a real pleasure to spend time with our brilliant students at City University of Hong Kong / CityU SCOPE, where we explored all things Digital Construction and shared insights across continents.

Great to see the fantastic progress being made over there — and fascinating to compare notes with our own work at University of Wolverhampton. The trip also gave me a chance to explore the city, snap a few photos 📸, and gather ideas that we’ll be feeding back into our WLVArchitecture teaching — helping give our students an even broader, global perspective on the built environment 🌏

Now back on home soil, and straight into eight hours of studio and class time yesterday with our Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) BSc (Hons) Architectural Design Technology students — kicking off a collaborative BIM project built around ISO 19650. No better way to beat jet lag than jumping headfirst into teamwork and model coordination! 💻🧱 😀

This academic year is moving fast!!!

✨ A fantastic winning evening! ✨

We're so proud of WLVArchitecture colleagues David Heesom and Nigel Moore's brilliant success at the inaugural University of Wolverhampton Research & Enterprise Awards 2025! Dave and Nigel won the award for Transformative Impact in Knowledge Exchange, Enterprise, Industry, and Innovation 🏆 The award recognised their ongoing applied work in #digitalconstruction, #BIM and #DigitalTwins. Dave and Nigel were genuinely honoured to be acknowledged alongside so many brilliant people doing impactful work across the University. Huge congratulations to all the winners and finalists — it was amazing to see the wealth of creativity, innovation, and enterprise on show 👏

Thanks also to everyone who we work with from industry who are open to innovation and adopting new (and sometimes radical) technologies as we transform the construction sector. A big congratulations to Prof Prashant Pillai MBE, Ceri David Jones, and the entire team at the University of Wolverhampton Research and Enterprise Directorate (RED) team for hosting such a memorable evening as part of the hashtag#BeyondFutures Festival of Research & Innovation 🎉 The following day, Dave's little boy decided he should get an award too, 🥇 citing room tidying, starting the new School year and generally 'being awesome' - a compelling case, so the art box came out and Mum obliged 😁

We’re absolutely thrilled to celebrate the success of our recent Architectural Design Technology graduate, Joel Woodward, who has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) hashtag#ATAwards for Student Report of the Year! 🎉

Joel’s outstanding research explored how large point cloud datasets can be seamlessly integrated into real-time game engines to enhance the design process — a forward-thinking project with real impact. As part of the research Joel was mentored by WLVArchitecture staff Professor David Heesom FCIAT, Nigel Moore & Dr. Mo Tammo, with kind support to use real project data collected by the National Brownfield Institute. 👏👏

Congratulations, Joel — an incredible achievement, and we couldn’t be prouder of you! 👏👏

Great to welcome The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) to our Springfield Campus yesterday! 👏

Member of our WLVArchitecture team – Professor David Heesom FCIAT, Karis Cochrane and Nigel Moore – shared how we’re pushing the boundaries of AI in education, alongside some fascinating talks on AI in the construction industry.

A big thank you to CIOB for the invitation and to all involved for the insightful discussions. We look forward to building on these collaborations 🚀

We’re thrilled to share that our David Heesom FCIAT and Nigel Moore have been shortlisted for the ‘Transformative Impact in Knowledge Exchange, Enterprise, Industry, and Innovation’ category at the 2025 University of Wolverhampton Festival of Research – Research and Enterprise Awards!

Yesterday saw the cameras rolling 🎥 with our talented friends at Stone's Throw Media, capturing the story behind their impactful, collaborative work. Best of luck to David and Nigel — fantastic to see their applied research getting the recognition it deserves! 👏🌟

We're thrilled to announce WLVArchitecture's fantastic results in the National Student Survey (NSS) 2025!

Our students have rated us exceptionally well, placing WLVArchitecture among the very top nationally across multiple NSS themes. These results are the best we've ever had and reflect our ongoing commitment to providing outstanding teaching, support, and student experience.

✨ Highlights include:

✅ Teaching on my Course: 97.6%
✅ Assessment and Feedback: 93.3%
✅ Learning Opportunities: 94.3%
✅ Academic Support: 95.2%
✅ Student Voice: 93.7%

These fantastic results place WLVArchitecture in the first quartile and the national top 10 for six out of seven NSS themes. Even better, we’re ranked second nationally against benchmark for Student Voice and Assessment & Feedback.

With Clearing opening imminently, it's the perfect time for future architects to join a programme recognised by students themselves for its excellence. At WLVArchitecture, you'll benefit from high-quality teaching, clear assessment criteria, excellent academic support, and a vibrant student community.

Congratulations and thank you to our students and staff who've made these outstanding results possible!

Explore our courses today—there are still places available!

Yesterday, we proudly celebrated the graduation of our amazing WLVArchitecture students at the University of Wolverhampton. It was a day full of smiles, pride, and a few happy tears – as well as some seriously impressive achievements!

Following the official ceremony, we continued the celebrations with the School of Architecture and Built Environment own prize-giving event on the Springfield Campus, generously supported by industry partners. We’re thrilled to share that WLVArchitecture students took home some of the top accolades:
🏆 Danielle Edwards – Chancellor’s Award
🏆 Aditya Hira – RIBA West Midlands Prize
🏆 Nathan Millward – CIAT Outstanding Student Award
🏆 Rayan Mohammad – Atkins Outstanding Woman in Construction
🏆 Esha Khan – Wolverhampton Homes Women in Property and Construction Prize

A huge congratulations to the entire Class of 2025 – we’re incredibly proud of all you’ve achieved and can’t wait to see where your talents take you next. Wherever your journey leads, remember:

💛 Once WLVArchitecture, Always WLVArchitecture 💛

Ready to move beyond buzzwords and dive into the real-world challenges of retrofit?

Join RIBA West Midlands for a full day focused on Retrofit, Reuse, and Adaptation, where practical workshops meet strategic thinking.

Whether you’re an architect, planner, developer, or student, you’ll gain:
🔧 Practical tools you can use right away
🏗️ Inspiring case studies on sustainable reuse and adaptation
♻️ In-depth knowledge on Whole Life Carbon and Material Passports
💬 Developer insights on making retrofit commercially viable

Hosted by WLVArchitecture and the National Brownfield Institute, with speakers including Sagal Rooble and Ellen Willis of Chetwoods, this is an event you won’t want to miss.
📅: Thursday 11 September
🕙: 10am – 4pm
📍: Lady Aruna Building, University of Wolverhampton, WV10 0JP
🎟️: Limited spaces: https://bit.ly/44ygGWT
🥪: Lunch and refreshments included.

📸: Ben McPhee