With Suffolk still waiting to hear the result of its multi-million-pound lottery bid for a new heritage centre/record office, a student from UCS has won a prestigious competition to design a new reception area for the centre.

Bryony Briggs is a final-year design student at UCS and designed the “shell-inspired” reception that could be used as a basis for the new building, which has the working title of The Hold.

The £17m heritage centre project, which is a partnership between the county council and UCS, would see a brand-new building near Ipswich Waterfront, housing many of the county’s records, a café, exhibition space, and a 200-seat auditorium.

The county council has pledged £5m to the project and UCS a further £1m. Most of the remaining £11m is being sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The winning design will be showcased at a forthcoming fundraising gala for The Hold on 17 March at the Museum of East Anglian Life – an event organised by UCS students.

County councillor Sarah Stamp said: “These projects clearly show the spirit of collaboration between the council and the university – a partnership which is at the heart of The Hold project – and we’ve not even begun.”

Bryony’s course leader at UCS, Dr Liana Psarologaki, said: “Our students presented some exceptional ideas that invested in originality, functionality, and innovation, focusing on community impact and brief facilitation and using the latest visualisation technologies. The winning design approached the brief with a particularly sophisticated and creative manner, aiming to create a space that will act as a pole of attraction for visitors from the region and beyond.”