A group of Year 10 and 11 students were invited by the Jackson team to visit Linmere Construction Site, as a follow up activity from our STEM Event in January. This was a fantastic opportunity to see first hand what the role of a Civil Engineer involves. The site will be used for housing and is located just behind the large Lidl warehouse by Junction 11A on the M1.
Josh and Antionette started by giving a safety briefing which included going through the event’s Risk Assessment and PPE. The hard hats and high vis jackets were a highlight for the girls, particularly as they were allowed to take them home as a souvenir! Jackson have responsibility for constructing the roads for the new development and Antionette had prepared an excellent site plan with colour coded key. We were able to see the importance of tactile crossings, measuring kerb levels and accurately plotting locations of wifi points for the new houses. Josh explained that Civil Engineers use metres and millimetres to work in, rather than centimetres and that attention to detail is crucial.
Everyone had a turn at using the GPS equipment and we also learnt that drones are increasingly being used for site management. Whether studying Gantt charts, thinking about the benefits and make up of bitumen or using Pythagoras Theorem, we were able to see the relevance of academic studies to the workplace and the transferrable skills.
We are hugely appreciative of the Jackson site staff in facilitating this trip and their vision and commitment to inspiring the Civil Engineers of the future.
Categories: Careers Senior School STEM Year 10 & Year 11
