Wednesday February 1st 2017
P6’s from Rosewell Primary School in front of the cable-stay bridge they have just built. Back row (Left to Right) Derek Hogg, MD of Crummock; Cara Hilton of CECA; Mhairi Cross, CE of ‘National Mining Museum Scotland’; Victoria Robb, Education Manager of ‘National Mining Museum Scotland’
Around 400 pupils had the chance to build their own suspension bridge and walk over it as part of the Bridges to Schools project. The project is to encourage young people to pursue a career in civil engineering.
Midlothian Council ran the events at the National Mining Museum Scotland in conjunction with the local engineering firm, Crummock and the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
The bridge, which was funded by the industry body, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) and is stored at Crummock’s head office at Butlerfield Estate, is freely available to any school within the Lothians and Fife to use.
Midlothian Council’s cabinet member for education, Councillor Bob Constable, said: “Giving more than 400 of our P6 pupils the opportunity to build their own bridge sounds like a fantastic way to inspire them to consider a career in civil engineering.
“This is the second year we’ve run the Bridges to Schools project and it’s been a huge success. The young people tell us they thoroughly enjoy working in teams and the project makes civil engineering interesting and fun.”
The teams at each event always have at least one or two STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Ambassadors, people who use these subjects on a daily basis and can relate their use to the school pupils.
Crummock, Midlothian Council Road Services, the ICE and other contractors can supply people to host the event.
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