Outstanding first year BSc Architecture students from the University of East London have won an award for sustainability after building a bird hide with recycled timber.

They won the Sustainable Stand Award at Ecobuild 2014 which is the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment and the UK’s largest construction event of any kind.

The students, who are at the university’s School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, were awarded the prize for their live workshop project Willow Bird Hide. It uses recycled timber, provided by Leaside Wood Recycling Project (LWRP) and willow sourced from the WaterWorks Centre and Middlesex Filter Beds, Lee Valley.

Students spent a week in the studios designing the Hide before beginning the construction process at the event in front of thousands of spectators over three days at the ExCeL exhibition centre in Custom House from March 4 to 6. Following the event, the observatory was taken back to the site where the willow was originally from, to become a resident structure which will inhabit the landscape and frame new views over the woods and the water.

Raphael Lee, UEL’s architectural lecturer, said: “It has been a fantastic few weeks watching the project coming together. From the planning stage right through to construction, the students have been really creative and professional in their approach.

“This experience will prove valuable to them for the future and gives them a platform to build on their skills and knowledge. We have had great support from people to make this happen including Ecobuild for providing the opportunity and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and LWRP for providing the materials.”

Kurt Arenas, one of the students, said: “It is a real honour to see our project win this award. What is more important is the fact that we raised awareness of the need to look to the future and find more sustainable ways of building such structures.

“This project has been really exciting and it has allowed us to work with freedom in our design and also make a positive contribution through our degree.”