Halcrow “Go 4 Science Engineering and Technology”

Halcrow’s Edinburgh and Glasgow offices took part in a ten-week competitive project with two groups of six 12-13 year old pupils, to open their eyes to pursuing a career in science, engineering and technology (SET).

The students - from Edinburgh’s South Queensferry High School and Glasgow’s Jordanhill School - took part in the Go4SET programme, run by the Engineering Development Trust and supported by Halcrow. The programme aims to increase the number of pupils pursuing careers in SET subjects at this key stage in their education. The Water and Your School project in Edinburgh and the Energy and Your School project in Glasgow – all mentored by Halcrow staff – showed students the techniques and technology used by contemporary engineers.

The teams also took part in an eco-competition in which they competed for recognition of their efforts by the Go4SET programme and the British Association. Mentored by Halcrow’s Lucy Van Der Ven and Alan Ruiz, both teams were tasked with designing a model to conserve energy and water and stop these valuable resources being wasted at their respective schools.

Given that recent research has demonstrated that exposing younger age groups to

SET-based businesses encourages more students to pursue degree-level study at university, it’s an ideal way to migrate youngsters to engineering and Halcrow. Go4Set’s Edinburgh-based programme co-ordinator, Aileen Lothian, said: “Halcrow’s expertise and experience in engineering is proving invaluable to all the pupils involved. Lucy and Alan have been excellent mentors to the pupils throughout this project and worked hard to achieve excellent results.”

It’s no surprise then that Queensferry High School went on to win the Go4SET competition in Edinburgh. “It was a complete shock,” said Lucy Van Der Ven, on hearing the news. “All the entries were of such a high standard. We’re very proud of all the kids.”