Building bridges to success
On Wednesday, we were at Ashton Park school where Shazad from COLAS Ltd delivered a very exciting session around careers in Construction.
The young people were introduced to COLAS as a company and the varied opportunities available. It was very exciting to learn about the new project that the company is starting in Bristol, getting boots on the ground as close as next week, as well as the opportunities to travel abroad with this global company.
Within this session, students were able to hear about all the different roles and their responsibilities as well as hearing from current apprentices…It was then onto the challenge.
The group were divided into teams and were given the task of designing and constructing a bridge that spanned 0.5m in length across 2 tables. The teams had to cost their materials that they ‘purchased’ for the construction to take place. With a piece of paper costing in the range of £10 million pounds, the students had to be strict and resourceful when it came to their designs!
Students used teamwork, communication, and innovative thinking to bring their designs to life before the testing began.
The winning team was the bridge that was the lowest cost but could hold the most amount of weight and be wide enough to drive a toy car across. All the teams bridges were a great success and students engaged in the learning about the different roles that can be pursued in construction.
One Student stated “It’s opened my mind on the possibilities of what I could do “
A huge thank you to Shazad and COLAS for making this session a success!