Downing student part of triumphant Cambridge team at European real estate final
Downing student Krris Chandaria (2024, Land Economy) was part of the victorious Cambridge team at the European final of the 2025 ULI Hines Student Competition, which took place in London earlier this month.
The competition offers students the opportunity to form multidisciplinary teams of four and engage in a challenging exercise in responsible land use, testing their understanding of the core elements of real estate – finance, planning, development, and social and environmental issues that impact decisions around land use.
Krris was part of the University of Cambridge’s teamLHBK, one of six teams competing in the final alongside others representing universities and business schools from across Europe.
During the event, each team was challenged to combine their skills, industry knowledge and creative thinking to tackle a demanding and practical challenge before presenting their urban development proposals to a jury of real estate industry leaders.
This year’s real-world urban case study required the teams to address the challenges related to retail around London’s Bond Street station. The challenge focused on the redefinition of the retail and leisure experience alongside modern living and working spaces, while also including a broad public realm strategy to interlink isolated spaces, enhance biodiversity and improve the environment for residents and visitors.
The Cambridge team’s overall concept was ‘City Touching the Sky’, featuring elements such as the pedestrianisation of the public realm for retail and leisure uses, the creation of connected green corridors, integrating a park into retail and office spaces, increases to external and internal natural light, a pedestrianised skywalk attraction and interconnected rooftops to increase green public space.
Kriss said: “This was a great competition with multiple stages in which I learnt a lot, so it was very rewarding to win. I would encourage anyone interested in real estate to apply next year.”
Published 14 April 2025