Today (Wednesday 4 July) year five children at Godmanchester Primary School took part in an engineering master class provided by Jackson Civil Engineering, who are building flood defences in the town on behalf of the Environment Agency. They delivered a practical exercise designed to introduce children to basic engineering principles whilst raising awareness of the project and the potential dangers around building sites.
The Environment Agency, Jackson Civil Engineering and scheme designers Atkins have worked closely with council representatives and residents to develop flood defence structures in keeping with the town’s heritage. The partnership is keen to develop this relationship throughout the construction phase and is planning a number of activities to support this.
Representatives from each of the organisations are taking time to deliver safety awareness messages at school assemblies ahead of the summer holidays; explaining why the work is happening and the dangers of playing on and around building sites. They’re also offering to deliver more technical hands on exercises with the local primary and secondary schools to enhance school curriculums.
Ian Dodson, Environment Agency Project Manager for Godmanchester’s flood defence scheme said: “£6.8M of Government, Council and Local Levy funding is being invested in the construction of flood defences for the residents and businesses in Godmanchester. It is the local community that will benefit from these defences so it’s important that we involve future generations and raise awareness locally.”
Nigel Aves, Site Manager for Jackson Civil Engineering explained “We will be working in the town for the next two years so we felt it was vital to explain a bit more about the project and highlight key health and safety advice around the summer building work. The exercise at Godmanchester Primary School simply gave us an opportunity to engage with the local community and get children thinking about shapes used in engineering and construction.”
