This year’s Construction Challenge took place with contributions from the Waterman Group, Willmott Dixon, Lakehouse, The Hyde Group, Norton Rose and Southwark Education Business Alliance.

The project exposes Year 10 students from St Thomas the Apostle College to the construction industry, with talks from professionals in the sector and a visit to a construction site to see a construction project in progress. The initiative culminates in the challenge for students to respond to a project brief, and deliver a proposal to redevelop the area around the Elephant & Castle.

Students were asked to work as teams to create a concept for the regeneration project, manage a budget and also to put together a presentation to showcase their project plan. With input from volunteers from the companies named above, each team set about devising a proposal which was financially viable and which showed an understanding of environmental issues. The teams also demonstrated that they were socially aware by considering the needs of all sections of the community, i.e. different age groups and abilities.

The discussions were animated and informed, with students showing a real passion for the brief. There were also some exciting innovations in the final presentations, for example an outdoor cultural area for members of the community to perform and observe arts events and exhibitions. Green energy was a firm favourite among the teams too, and ideas included wind turbines and solar panels on top of new buildings. All this innovation was not at the expense of aesthetics, however, as teams also looked to inject some beauty into the area; one of the proposals had dedicated a space at the centre of the roundabout for a sculpture garden.

Student’s evaluation after the Construction Challenge showed they had learnt some important aspects of the industry, such as health and safety, sustainability and environmental issues as well as planning and budgeting a project.

It also revealed the students had improved key skills such as team work, planning their work and the confidence to present in front of a group. Their evaluation forms showed an interesting level of self-reflection of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as a real appreciation of the food provided by the business partners!