16 September 2004
Buro Happold launches ‘What is engineering?’ Website
A new website that aims to raise the profile of engineering as a career choice among 14 to 16-year-olds has been launched by Buro Happold, the engineering consultancy responsible for such prestigious projects as The Great Court at the British Museum, the Millennium Dome and Stirling prize winner, Magna Science Adventure Centre.
The website, http://www.whatisengineering.co.uk was launched on 14 September, at Explore @Bristol. It provides an interactive, fun and interesting online resource for secondary school pupils who will soon be making subject choices that will influence their future career options.
As part of the launch event, pupils from several secondary schools in Bristol and Bath were invited to @Bristol, where they completed a series of fun, engineering-based challenges – from building a skyscraper out of straws, to providing emergency water supplies to a war-torn city. The teams of five received a score for each challenge. They were marked not only on their ability to complete the task, but also on their teamworking skills and creativity. The winning team, TX3 from Cotham School in Bristol, showed great ingenuity in all the areas in which they were tested. Another team from Cotham School, TE3, took second place, while St Gregory’s RC School from Bath was placed third.
Buro Happold managing partner Padraic Kelly says: “Buro Happold, like every other engineering consultancy in the country, is concerned about the falling number of young people who are entering the engineering profession. Our business – and the UK as a whole – depends on highly skilled, creative and enthusiastic people who push the boundaries of innovation, design and technology. We wanted to do something to show teenagers, many of whom have preconceptions that engineering is ‘boring’, that it can offer a creative, fun and rewarding career.”
The practice has received support from a number of UK manufacturers and institutions in developing content for the website. Currently, it carries information about the different disciplines involved in building engineering (Buro Happold’s speciality) and aeronautical engineering (Airbus), with plans to expand it to include automotive engineering and design engineering. Dyson Floorcare RDD Director, Alex Knox, made the journey from Malmesbury to show his support for the project, presenting the prizes to the winning team. He also confirmed that Dyson would contribute further to the website by providing engineering case studies of its latest machines.
The site is unique in that teachers will also be able to download project packs, based around the National Curriculum, which they can use in the classroom to demonstrate different aspects of engineering. The site also explains the different routes a young person can take to become an engineer, and includes a section on ‘famous engineers’ ranging from Archimedes to James Dyson.
Kelly concludes: “Buro Happold has close links with many universities and colleges throughout the UK, and we also have a very strong graduate development programme. However, we recognise that to get more young people into engineering, we need to start with those who are still at school – and that is what this website is all about.”
Background information for Editors
The ‘What is Engineering?’ launch took place at @Bristol, Harbourside, Bristol, BS1 5DB on 14 September 2004. http://www.whatisengineering.co.uk went live from that date.
Wildscreen @Bristol was designed by architects Michael Hopkins & Partners, with Buro Happold providing structural, building services and civil engineering. The project was a joint winner of the Civic Trust Urban Design Award 2002, sponsored by the DTLR.
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, disability design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
Elspeth Wales
Telephone 01225 320 600
Fax 0870 787 4148
Elspeth.Wales@burohappold.com