Branch News Item

Branch: South West
Date: 07 Jun 2006
Title: Budding Brunels of the future - see post event write up

Engaged, enthusiastic and inspired pupils are every teachers dream, and with a little bit of help from SETpoints’ Alison Rivett, Bucknall Austin’s’ Simon Blackman and Women in Property’s’ Robyn Gilmour, teacher Chris Rees had his dreams come true!

As part of the Brunel 200 celebrations, Business West, SETpoint, Bucknall Austin and Women in Property arranged a morning with two year 5 classes at Perry Court Junior School in Hengrove, Bristol.

Simon Blackman, Project Manager at property and construction consultants, Bucknall Austin, kicked off the day with a wonderful presentation on suspension bridges, how they are designed and built, and how some engineers, much to the pupil’s amusement and astonishment, have made some terrible mistakes! The pupils were given the chance to then build a model of the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which Simon had prepared for them.

Setpoints’ Alison Rivett then set a task for the pupils to design and build their own bridges. Each group were given some paper, a wooden roller, masking tape, nuts and bolts and cardboard. They had an hour in which to create a bridge that could span 65cm and take the weight of a 1kg truck. The children were completely and utterly enthralled and built the most amazing bridges.

The activity was based on teamwork and problem solving. It aimed to promote science, engineering and technology to young children by bringing real life science and engineering problems into the school, with real engineers to inspire and help the pupils to solve them.

Chris Rees said “It has been really good for the pupils to work with real engineers rather than just teachers, they are completely engaged and have shown good collaborative work. The demonstration followed by the task challenge has given them the opportunity to use their imagination and think around problems. So much of education is purely about thinking, but this has been fantastic as it has given them the chance to put their thoughts into practice”

Alison commented “The children are really thinking about the challenges and are coming up with great novel solutions, so hopefully we have some budding engineers here!”

In true engineering form, Simon was really pleased that “the kids have picked up on the strength of using triangles”.

Robyn Gilmour, Women in Property an Marketing Manager for Bucknall Austin, was overjoyed that one of the most successful bridges was designed and built by an all girl team, who picked up on the idea of triangles and built a truss bridge. It passed the 1kg weight test and spanned more than the required distance! She said “Women in Property are focussing on raising the ratio of women in the industry and events like this are where we will truly make a difference. How often are young girls challenged with engineering and construction problems and given the chance to design and build a solution? It was amazing to see their mature, intelligent and creative approach to the task, their ability to work together, communicate effectively and come out tops! It is through this type of engagement at an early age that we will inspire women to consider construction related professions”

Sue Sanctuary of Business West said “Encouraging the young Brunel’s of the future is very much at the heart of the Brunel 200 year. We are grateful to industry professionals like Simon, Robyn and the Setpoint volunteers who help broaden the horizons of young people and stimulate interest in learning about engineering and construction.”

Further details

Rebuilding the Clifton Suspension Bridge!

The Challenge Begins!

One of the winning bridges

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