Heatrae Sadia is delighted to crown Jennifer Wong, a student at Brunel University, as the winner of its 2017 inaugural Design Awards.

Entrants into the competition were tasked with designing a new, problem-solving electric water heating product for the chance to win the top prize of £10,000. Jennifer was announced as this year’s winner after impressing the judges with her unique, efficient and well-thought out creation at Heatrae Sadia’s head office in Norwich on 27 July.

Jennifer and runner up, Montgomery Cooke from University of Exeter, along with the other finalists, had to present to the judges on the inspiration behind their ideas and how they would work in practice. They also enjoyed a tour of the Heatrae Sadia factory on the day to learn about the research and development process involved in bringing these products to life, including talks from some of the company’s top design experts.

The electric heating and hot water brand launched the awards last year, in an effort to encourage more young people into the industry in response to the current skills gap.

Richard Newman, senior product manager at Heatrae Sadia, said: “It’s vital we future-proof the engineering industry in the UK and harness all of the up and coming talent which is out there by introducing them to the possibilities of careers within our sector.

“The standard of entries we received this year has been extremely high, which has highlighted to us just how many talented designers with promising futures there are out there.

“We’d like to pass on a very well-deserved congratulations to Jennifer, who impressed the judges with her thoroughly considered and excellent design and presentation. We’re very much looking forward to seeing what next years’ awards will have in store!”