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UEL students engineer success at Constructionarium event

Thursday 24 April 2008

Civil Engineering students from the University of East London (UEL) got a taste of real construction site work when they took part in a special ‘Constructionarium’ event at the National Construction College in Norfolk from 30 March to 4 April.

48 students from UEL’s BEng degree in Civil Engineering took part in the event, designed to help them learn practical skills by building scaled-down versions of prestigious civil engineering projects.

The students were split into two groups to build models of the Ravenspurn Oil Rig and the Kingsgate Footbridge. They were given specialist on-the-job training by professionals from Duffy Construction and Atkins Consulting Engineers.

Rajanmol Sing Turna, a UEL student who took part in the project, said: “You don’t appreciate what techniques go into building until you see it in reality. The Constructionarium has allowed me to put theory into practice and now I know that I really want to work on site.”

Students undertook all activities related to the construction of their projects, from producing programmes, method statements and risk assessments, to fixingsteel and placing concrete.

Roy Bayliss, Programme Leader for BEng Civil Engineering at UEL, said: “I’ve been extremely impressed by all the students’ work; they’ve shown great self-discipline, time management and problem-solving skills.

“At times, the challenge of completing two complex civil engineering projects within just five days seemed an impossible task, but both of the projects were built and completed on time.”

Daine Christie, Project Manager at Duffy Construction, added: “The students did a really great job and I’ve been impressed with their enthusiasm and hard work. The project teams were well organised and showed a great deal of professionalism. It was an outstanding achievement of professional team work.”

UEL’s BEng degree in Civil Engineering combines the fundamental knowledge and theories required by all civil engineers with laboratory and practical work and on-site experience. For further information, visit www.uel.ac.uk/scot.

For details and pictures contact Daniel Cherry: 020 8223 2194

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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