Female students join Camden construction and design challenge - Camden Rise

Female students from three Camden secondary schools got to grips with virtual reality building modelling, creating a dream workspace and design ideas for Euston at a construction and design event at King's Cross Construction Skills Centre during National Apprenticeship Week.

Forty-five female students from Parliament Hill School, La Sainte Union Catholic School and Maria Fidelis Catholic School attended the event, which was held earlier this month to showcase the diverse careers and opportunities available in the construction industry.

The construction and design challenge day brought together architects, engineers, surveyors, planners and building design professionals, who led four one-hour workshops for the students. 

One of the workshops, led by architectural social enterprise Matt + Fiona invited students to come up with design ideas for a 'dream workspace'. The students developed their concept, before designing, testing and building their models.

SCS Railways and Mace Dragados set students a challenge to design, cost and build a load-bearing model bridge. This involved working closely with their engineers and apprentices. Bouygues UK ran a workshop with virtual reality building modelling technology to show students how cutting-edge tech is being used in the construction industry.

Meanwhile, Lendlease took students through a design challenge helping to shape plans for the Euston Station redevelopment, linked to the construction of the new High Speed 2 rail line. Students had to identify and prioritise activities to include within the Euston Station masterplan. 

At the beginning of the day, the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) presented to the students to highlight the diverse range of opportunities within the industry. The construction and design challenge event was organised jointly by the Camden Apprenticeships and Camden STEAM teams from Camden Council and Camden Learning. Support and encouragement was provided by female role models from the construction industry. 

Further similar events are planned with schools. The work is part of Camden Council and Camden Learning's employment opportunity pledge to ensure that young people in Camden schools take part in an employer-led science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM) experience.

• See more photos from the event here
• For more details about Camden STEAM and how to get involved, visit the Camden STEAM web page or email steampledge@camden.gov.uk.