Carrying around 85,000 vehicles per day across Cambridgeshire, the A14 trunk road, which is managed by Highways England, is a vital transport corridor between the West Midlands and East Anglia. However, it is frequently congested and traffic is often disrupted by breakdowns and accidents.
A section of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon is currently undergoing major construction work which on completion will unveil a new 31km section of carriageway by the end of 2020 at a cost of £1.5 billion.
Within the project team there are a host of STEM professionals working together. These include planners, designers, environmental specialist, civil engineers and commercial personnel from a variety of organisations, including Costain, Skanska and Balfour Beatty & Carillion. These organisations have formed a joint venture with the single identity of the A14 Integrated Delivery Team (IDT).
Currently, around 10% of the 500 professionals working on the project are STEM Ambassadors, and this number is set to rise. These STEM Ambassadors are bringing their knowledge of the industry to life by supporting events at local schools. This project is an exciting opportunity to inspire young people with STEM careers, through a topic that is, quite literally, on their doorstep!
"My job involves supervising the building of a bridge. I’m responsible for marking out and measuring where the bridge will go, making sure it gets built in the right place, and in line with the design. As well as a few careers fairs, the STEM activities I’ve helped with are running workshops in schools. I introduced a group of year 8s to the challenges I face on site building a bridge, and encouraged them to think up solutions." - Esther Redpath, STEM Ambassador and site engineer working on the A14 project
STEM Ambassador Hub East England and their local Science Learning Partnership (SLP) have joined up with the IDT to demonstrate the relevance of STEM applications to students and teachers. The Hub has been busy arranging training and DBS checks for those supporting the project. Rhian Lawton, Skills Co-ordinator for the A14 IDT team, is working with schools to confirm support across the whole project:
"The civil engineering sector is keen to promote the amazing opportunities available for young people, and the best way to do that is with a wide reaching schools engagement programme."
To date, these STEM Ambassadors have been involved in more than 40 school and college events, where they have conducted mock interviews, given careers talks and undertaken project based activities.
By giving a real flavour of a construction project and all the STEM applications that it has to offer, the IDT, STEM Ambassador Hub East England and Swavesey SLP will be continuing their efforts over the next few years to inspire young people with this exciting project.
Share your STEM stories
As the academic year draws to a close, we want to celebrate all of the amazing things that have been achieved this year. If you have an inspiring STEM story that you want to share, contact us or join in the conversation on Twitter, @STEMLearningUK #STEMStories17.