INSEE-IESL Concrete Challenge 2017 winners announced

Group B from the University of Moratuwa, the overall Champions team of the INSEE-IESL Concrete Challenge 2017 competition comprising of (from left): Chathuri Jayamali, Asanka De Silva, Shan Abeywardene, Ashan Gomes and Janith Dissanayake receiving the award from Engineer Jayavilal Meegoda, President of IESL (3rd from left), Jan Kunigk, Executive Vice President of Commercial, INSEE Cement (centre) and Engineer Senior Prof. Anura Nanayakkara, University of Moratuwa

Sri Lanka’s leading cement manufacturer Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd., also known as INSEE Cement, announced the winners of the 2017 Concrete Challenge organised in partnership with the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) at the BMICH during the Techno 2017 Engineering and Technology Exhibition, rewarding and recognising the country’s future engineers and their promising potential for new thinking and innovation. 

Group B from the University of Moratuwa were judged overall champions of the competition, with team members M.M. Chathuri Jayamali, P.A.M. Gomes, Shan Sandaruwan Abeywardene, S.A.S.K. De Silva and D.M.J.M. Dissanayake walking away with the grand prize of a three-night guided educational visit to Thailand, where they will visit the Siam City Cement Company as well as the INSEE Cement manufacturing facility in Saraburi, the largest cement production complex in the world.

The challenge that kicked off in June 2017 saw a total of 98 five-member teams (490 participants) of final year Civil Engineering students from the state engineering universities of Moratuwa, Peradeniya, Ruhuna, Jaffna, South Eastern and the Open University of Sri Lanka vying for top honours by producing the winning mix design for high strength, flowable concrete with INSEE Extra, Sri Lanka’s first low heat sulphate resisting Portland fly ash cement product to have received Sulphate Resisting status from the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLS).

IESL, the apex body for professional engineers in Sri Lanka ensured independent reviews and result assessments of the teams throughout the three-month competition. “Having identified a scarcity of student members at IESL, we made it our responsibility as the national body of Engineers in Sri Lanka to ensure that students were encouraged and empowered with partnerships and competitions such as the INSEE – IESL Concrete Challenge,” stated IESL President Engineer Jayavilal Meegoda, in his welcome speech at the award distribution ceremony. “Today there are over 2,900 student members at IESL benefiting from such competitions, and we look forward to working with INSEE to take this challenge further, encouraging our students to participate, compete and win, powering the evolution of engineering in the country.”

INSEE Cement Marketing and Sales Director/Executive Vice President Jan Kunigk speaking at the forum

Engineer Senior Professor Anura Nanayakkara, Senior Lecturer from the University of Moratuwa and the head of the judging panel delivered the keynote address at the event, elaborating on the evolution of the competition over the years. “We started the Concrete Challenge in 2014 with three universities, and today we have six universities participating in the event with a record number of teams. The competition has become more challenging over the years. We saw great results with this year’s requirements for producing high strength, flowable concrete, and look forward to the 2018 competition, where the challenge will be to create self-compacting concrete. We must keep moving forward. This is what the construction industry in Sri Lanka needs.”

“Innovation has always been key to our success,” stated Jan Kunigk, Marketing and Sales Director/Executive Vice President INSEE Cement, as he addressed the gathering during the awards ceremony. “Construction is changing rapidly, from horizontal structures to vertical ones, and INSEE Cement too is keeping pace with the demand for such constructions by offering innovative solutions to empower the local construction industry. Innovation is at the forefront of future constructions, and we welcome all these future engineers to collaborate with us, to think different, and to move Sri Lanka forward.”

This year’s challenge showcased extraordinary levels of skill and innovation by participating teams, resulting in two teams tied for second place; Team Pythons from South Eastern University (B.H.S.V. Jayalath, P.M.S.L. Munasinghe, H.H.N.L. Wijerathna, G.K.L. Hemal, H.M.K.S.B. Harasgama) and Group B from the University of Moratuwa (Sivathas Thankavadivel, Saravanapavan Gowmaran, Gopoojithaa Athmarajah, Suloshini Sivaraman, Thejonayanan Arulrasa) scored equal points to share the runners-up trophy, and walked away with a one-night stay at Hotel RIU Ahungalla. 

An innovation-led organisation, INSEE Cement invests heavily in addressing today’s demanding challenges of the construction industry through continuous research into solution-based cement products and mixes. The INSEE Cement brand is behind Sri Lanka’s leading retail cement products, INSEE Sanstha and INSEE Mahaweli Marine, producing a much higher strength compared to any other cement available in the local market. 

“We thank Engineer Jayavilal Meegoda, President of the IESL, for partnering with us for this endeavour,” stated Head of Industrial Sales at INSEE Cement, Sanka Seneviratne. He added, “A special thank you to IESL President Elect and University of Moratuwa Department of Civil Engineering Senior Lecturer Emeritus Prof. Niranjanie Ratnayake for her support and guidance. Our appreciation goes out to Engineer Senior Professor Anura Nanayakkara and the judging panel, for working tirelessly with the students to ensure the competition set benchmark standards for what is expected from us for the future of the local construction industry. While congratulating the participants and winners today, we look forward, together with the IESL, to a more exciting challenge in 2018, as INSEE Cement continues to invest in the dissemination of knowledge and collaboration to encourage innovation among potential engineers.”

Siam City Cement (Lanka) Ltd. is a member of the Siam City Cement Public Company Limited, a leading cement manufacturer in Southeast Asia, founded in 1969 in Thailand. The company manufactures INSEE branded cement, Ready Mixed Concrete, construction aggregates and solutions to serve a widespread regional market that includes Cambodia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, in addition to Sri Lanka. INSEE Cement is the first certified ‘Green Cement’ product in Sri Lanka with the Green Labeling certification awarded by the Green Building Council. INSEE Cement is the only fully integrated cement manufacturer in Sri Lanka. 

The parent company, Siam City Cement Public Company Limited (SCCC) has adapted and progressed to serve the construction needs of the region; its cement manufacturing facility in Saraburi, Thailand, is the world’s largest cement production complex. The company, SCCC draws from the accumulated expertise and knowledge over decades of operation, and is strongly focused on investing in rapidly advancing regional markets such as Sri Lanka, which show much promise in sustainable construction.