A North Berwick architecture student has had his work recognised in an international design competition.

Rory Dickens, who is studying at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, led a group of seven volunteers as part of the two-month Arkitrek project in Malaysia.

That saw the team design, and build, a community hut in Sabah, in the north west of the country.

The project has been given an honourable mention in the 2015 Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Awards, which recognise designs that address social, economic and environmental issues.

This was the second time 24-year-old Rory, a former North Berwick High School pupil, got involved with the Arkitrek scheme.

He said: “Being a leader on the Tagal Hut project was a tough but very rewarding experience.

“When you are a leader on an intense two-month project, you have to be professional on site, at the dinner table and even when you are brushing your teeth.

“We had a really interesting and dynamic team with a wide range of experience, but living and working in a remote, hot and humid place was a completely new experience for most members of the team and I had to help people through tough times such as homesickness – or the lack of toilet paper!” Working in a small remote village made up of about 50 homes and two hours away from the nearest main town, the project team – made up of architecture students and industry professionals – exchanged ideas and construction techniques with locals before getting started on the build.

Rory added: “Several of our ideas and building techniques were new to them, while some of their extremely interesting and traditional methods were new to us.

“Despite the language barrier, through drawing and a lot of charades we were able to create a building that married modern sustainable methods, such as bio-crete and leach fields, with traditional methods of bamboo weaving.

“Most of the traditional methods were secrets that only the elders knew, such as certain bamboo construction techniques, but we were able to document them in a book and revive them, with much interest from the youth of the village.” Rory, who is in his final year of studies and graduates in the summer, plans to return to Malaysia to lead another project for the organisation.

But before that, he hopes to raise enough sponsorship to allow him to attend the SEED Awards ceremony in Detroit, Michigan, on April 11, and present the project in front of the judging panel.

He added: “We are delighted that the project has been given an honourable mention in the SEED Awards and it would be great to be able to represent our team at the ceremony – but without sponsorship to fund the travel costs, I won’t be able to attend.

“I’m hoping that a local company might be willing to step in and help towards the cost of the flight.”