For its participation in national Library Week, The Concrete Institute (TCI) Information Centre invited staff to enter a special competition to see who could create the most innovative small concrete ‘conversation pieces’ for their desks.

Susan Battison, the Institute’s Information Specialist, says the motive behind the “First Impressions” competition was to showcase how easy it is to work with concrete, and also to show the material’s renowned versatility.

“At the same time, our fun competition’s education element  was in line with the Library and Information Association of SA (LIASA) “#libraries4lifelonglearning” theme for 2016, and endorsed the LIASA viewpoint that libraries have a major role to play in the development of a knowledgeable nation,” Susan explained.

John Roxburgh, lecturer at TCI School of Concrete Technology, provided the staff with expert guidelines on creating the conversation pieces, entitled ‘First Impressions’, which now have pride of place at their workstations in the TCI offices in Midrand.

Guest judge for the competition was Michelle Fick, Chryso South Africa’s Executive Relationship and Projects Manager. Three prizes were awarded, plus another for the entry with the best title.