Project Pipeline: County Durham and Tees Valley

Good afternoon

Last week, I spent an enjoyable morning working with the junior pupils at Cotherstone school, on the subject of Economic Sustainability.  I delivered a STEM session on bridges, and we talked about their importance in moving people and goods across land and water. We studied at different designs, such as swing bridges and looked at local examples, such as Newcastle’s famous swing bridge. We also looked at some examples of bridges build by Farrans Construction, including the Northern Spire in Sunderland and the Gull Wing bridge which is currently being built in Lowestoft.

We looked at the different job roles involved in such construction project, such as designers, planners, engineers, project managers and health and safety specialists. We finished off by putting theory into practice, by building small models of an ancient bridge design, invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. This took a lot of patience and resilience, as it was a tough challenge. In the end, they managed to show great teamwork and built structures that could hold the weight of a heavy book, simply by using the powers of gravity and friction. Well done!

Kind regards

Karen Alexander

Farrans’ Community Business Partner