Learning all about engineering at first hand
Pupils at a primary school learned about the new Queensferry Crossing – by building their own bridge.
Youngsters at Newton Primary, Dunblane, constructed a 12-metre-long, cable-stayed bridge based on the design of the new Forth crossing currently under construction.
They put the bridge together with help from members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and then walked across it.
The bridge is used to show children from primaries six and seven what civil engineering entails.
Wearing hard hats and fluorescent safety jackets, the pupils considered all aspects of the project.
These included looking at why bridges are needed in the first place through to the planning stage and materials, construction and health and safety.
Organisers hope that having to listen, focus and work together will help build pupils’confidence and add another dimension to learning.
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) funded the 12-metre long, cable-stayed bridge.
Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane and Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities, visited the school to admire the pupils’ work.
He said:“It was fantastic to share in their sense of achievement when they actually walked across the bridge that they had built. It is important that we do all we can to promote an interest in engineering for young people. This is a very innovative, hands-on approach which provides pupils with an experience and opportunity to try something that they perhaps hadn’t considered before.
“Who knows, we may even have inspired a few engineers of the future.”
CECA chief executive Alan Watt said:“We hope it encourages youngsters at an early stage of their education to consider civil engineering as a possible career path.”
Sara Thiam, Regional Director for ICE Scotland, said: “The numbers of young people entering the profession are in decline just when we are emerging from a recession and the people who design, build and maintain Scotland’s infrastructure are in particular demand.”
The 1.7-mile Queensferry Crossing is being built at a cost of between £1.35 billion and £1.4 billion and is due to open in 2016.
It will be the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world and also the largest to feature cables which cross mid-span.