A four-strong team of American students who won an international design competition for Hamilton’s waterfront have visited Bermuda for the first time.

The team from the University of North Carolina (UNC) beat 20 MBA Real Estate teams from the US and UK to win the top prize — with three of the international judging panel being recruited from Bermuda.

And last night they unveiled their vision for a new-look waterfront at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute after real estate firm Rego Sotheby’s International Realty sponsored their trip to the Island.

Competition organisers selected Bermuda because of the scale of the site and because it is one of the few undeveloped harbour areas left.

UNC team member Adam Coleman said: “It’s definitely interesting seeing it in person as opposed to not visiting Bermuda before the presentation.

“It’s a great opportunity to see Hamilton Harbour and all the things we saw in aerial photographs.”

He added: “I think the coolest thing is the unique architecture, the white roofs — it was what we expected but seeing it in person was just great.”

Team mate Brannen Blazer said that planning included walking round the real estate, but that was not possible in Bermuda.

He added: “We were using pictures and maps, which is definitely a challenge.”

Colleague Justin Trowbridge said: “It allows you to be very creative when you haven’t seen the site and you’re just looking at aerials and the competition is about promoting creativity and design concepts.”

Team member Mason Ellerbe added: “Our main goal was to keep the Hamilton Harbour open to all of Bermuda, so we focused on a lot of green space, public space, something that will cater not only to visitors but the people who live here as well.”

The winning submission includes a mix of shops, offices, homes and a hotel and casino.

Mr Blazer said that a balance had to be struck between the city and its people and the desire of investors to see a return.

He added: “When you’re thinking of that, you don’t want to go on the investors return — that’s going to anger the citizens. We knew going into this we didn’t want to maximise density.”

He said the team had deliberately left the centre of the site relatively open, with buildings more concentrated at the eastern and western ends of the harbour.

Mr Coleman added that the team had learned of approval for casinos on the Island to help boost tourism, so incorporated one in their plan, which was placed around where Hamilton docks stand now.

Mr Ellerbe said the team were surprised at first that the site had never been fully developed.

But he added: “We read a lot about the history of other proposed developments and complications in getting approvals from the local government.”

Mr Blazer added: “When you think about what goes into it, it’s not too shabby that it’s taken this long.”

Mr Ellerbe said: “That led us towards our decision not to build high density on that site, not to overdevelop it, which is a temptation when something is as beautiful as it is.”

Rego Sotheby’s International Realty partner Penny MacIntyre, who was one of the judges, along with director of planning Aideen Ratteray-Pryse and David Swift, a graduate of UNC and owner of Pembroke Paint, said she had also supplied information on the retail component.

She added: “It was a wonderful experience — what I thought was really interesting in the whole process, and fortunate for us three judges from Bermuda, was that we were among 24 judges and everyone was top of their professions around the world.”

And Ms MacIntyre said: “We thought it would be great to have the team here and see how the rest of the world sees Bermuda and look at best principles from elsewhere.”