Petrofac Helps Build Engineers of the Future

Petrofac has held its 13th annual bridge building competition for third year pupils of Aberdeen’s Kincorth Academy.

The education-industry partnership between Kincorth Academy and Petrofac is now in its 15th year and once again, the students were engaged in this popular engineering and construction challenge.  The students used a computer-based design package, their engineering skills and materials supplied by Petrofac to construct balsa wood bridges over the course of the school term.  Petrofac worked in partnership with the school’s Design and Technology department to offer their experience and advice to the students during the planning and construction of their models.

Around 60 pupils took up the challenge which began at the beginning of June, with 19 making it through to the final on Thursday.

The judging took place at Petrofac’s Bridge View office, where a specialist panel critiqued the design, presentation and build quality of each project. During the judging process, each bridge was subjected to an increasing load test by adding weights, with the winning bridge withstanding a load of over 39Kg.

A trophy and prizes were presented to the winning team, The Bridge Busters (Grant Laird, Sarah Middler and Chloe Fraser, all of whom are 14 years old).

Susanne Henderson, Deputy Head teacher of Kincorth Academy, said: “The Bridge Building event has become a tradition of our partnership with Petrofac and something we are very proud of.  It’s a great opportunity for our young people to get to work with, and learn from experienced engineers in the industry and certainly something they enjoy.”

Drew Russell, Vice President, Petrofac Offshore Projects added: “This year’s competition was again a fantastic success with an incredible amount of talent displayed by the students.  Part of our partnership with Kincorth academy is us providing an opportunity to the young people to see how skills and interests they have at school can be transferred to a working environment and potential career, which the bridge building competition achieves.”