Civil Engineering Students Build Bridges to Success

Civil Engineering students at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) developed their team working skills and gained practical experience with North Midlands Construction and Add-Venture.

First year civil engineering students constructing the foot bridge

First Year civil engineering students at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) have been constructing bridges and developing their team-working skills in collaboration with North Midland Construction and Add-venture.

The students – all first years from the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment – attended a day-long team building workshop, which included challenges such as constructing a small foot bridge and a varied assortment of team-building activities. This gave the students a great range of practical skills, essential for their careers in civil engineering upon graduating.

The students were joined by staff members from both North Midland Construction, which provides design, build, operation and maintenance services, across six main sectors throughout the UK and internationally, and Add-Venture, a Huddersfield based company providing training services linked to the outdoor environment.

Andinoyi Ozogi, a recent NTU graduate and Billy James, a current civil engineering placement student were two members of the North Midland Construction team supporting the students throughout the day. They provided guidance and gave the students a helping hand when needed. Andinoyi said of the group: “It’s really great to see such a diverse mix of students getting stuck in and enjoying themselves. Everyone has integrated really well and they’ve all been enthusiastic and motivated.”

The activity day gave the students a real world approach to learning on their course, and helped them develop much needed practical skills which can’t always be honed in the classroom. The students also developed a sense of trust with their fellow course mates, and the challenges provided a sense of accomplishment – showing the benefits of working together as a team.

Emma Silverwood, a first year BSc (Hons) Civil Engineering student told us: “It’s a really visual and practical way of learning, especially teaching people how to work together in a team and develop those skills – it’s been a really fun day! I loved the sense of accomplishment when our team had finished constructing the bridge.”