Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley

Good afternoon,

Earlier this month, I returned to Ingleton Primary to deliver a STEM session with pupils in their junior classes. My workshop this time was about Bridges and why they are important. We looked at different types of bridge design and examples of these in our area, including one in Sunderland built by Farrans, the Northern Spire, over the River Wear.

We then looked at a very ancient method of bridge building, invented by Leonardo Da Vinci, which relied on the forces of gravity and friction to be load bearing. The pupils worked in small groups using pencils to build miniature Da Vinci Bridges. It was a lot trickier than it looked, but they showed great perseverance and determination to accomplish the task – qualities that will certainly impress future employers later in their lives.

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Community Business Partner