Case studies

I am an engineer working at Arup and along with a fellow graduate we spent the second week in April working with the London Engineering project at their residential course in Winchester.  The course was over four days with 50 Yr 9 students from across South London.  We ran a project over two of the days looking at sustainable housing around the world.  We challenged the students to design and build a model of a sustainable luxury villa in a location of their choice and to then give a presentation to sell the design to a potential buyer.

What really impressed me about the course was the inventiveness of the students.  We deliberately gave them a very open brief to encourage them to be creative and we weren’t disappointed.  The house designs ranged from a log cabin in the Rockies through to a glass pyramid in the jungle.

One of the highlights of the course for me was the formal dinner and disco on the final night, where we got to see the kids all dressed up and to hear some of their thoughts about the course. 

I think the real advantage of the course is it gives the students a chance to talk to us, and to find out what it is like to be an engineer and what our job involves on a day to day basis.

One of the reasons I was keen to help out on this course is because I attended courses with the Smallpeice Trust when I was a student, and they are one of the reasons I chose engineering as a career.  I took a very traditional route into engineering, studying the appropriate A levels and then going on to an engineering degree at Bristol University.  Following university I have been working for Arup who are best know for building iconic buildings around the world including the Gherkin and the Beijing Olympic stadium.  My particular job involves modelling fluid and thermodynamics using computers to help to design buildings better.  This includes improving building design so they use less energy to heat and cool, and modelling how the wind moves around buildings.