The winner of the first ‘Transform the future’ design run by Dalsouple rubber flooring in England, was Janine Watkins, from Worcester. Janine is in her second year of the BA (Hons) Degree in Interior Textiles and Surface Design at Somerset College, University of Plymouth. Her project ‘The World at Your Feet’ was for her entrance hall project for Uffculme secondary school in Devon.

Judge Kevin McCloud praised Janine’s work, which focused on sustainability and created a bold, vibrant visual impact that lifted the existing space.

The competition attracted entries from colleges all over the UK and internationally. Runners up included students from Edinburgh College of Art, Northumbria University and the University of Northampton.

The objective was to combine the talents of design students with the enthusiasm of school pupils to create great learning environments using sustainable materials.

Janine’s design, ‘The World at Your Feet’ explored the tension between the opportunities created by education and the environmental responsibilities faced by this new generation of students.

Janine said that she was completely shocked when she found out that her design had won – but obviously really pleased. Some of her friends are currently traveling so she got her idea from that, by trying to work out how much carbon dioxide they would produce from jetting to various different places across the world.

Janine worked with the pupils at the school who gave her valuable feedback about her design, which was based on a global climate map. She then matched the colours to those in the Dalsouple range with all the images being in the shapes of continents and sub terrains.

Preparation work for the brief at the College was carried out with year 10 Uffculme School students studying art GCSE who were invited into the College to comment on designs and to see work in progress.

Janine won 1000 euros for herself, 1000 euros for the College and an additional 1000 euros, which will go towards installing her design at the school. Plans are now in progress to install the winning design at Uffculme School.