School children in Essex have been inspired to become architects, builders and quantity surveyors following a unique initiative in their school.
Children at Writtle Junior school were asked three years ago what their ideal classroom would look like and the result is the “Learning pod”. Chris Chivers, CIOB Past President, and Mike Bradburn MCIOB from Fairfield Holdings have been involved in the project.
The whole school – 240 pupils – worked to make their vision a reality. The children held brainstorming workshops to develop ideas which were drawn up by NeobardBurnson architects; a pupil designed the company logo ‘Konstruction Kids’; they secured planning permission and are now in a position to build. The vision includes rainwater harvesting, bird nests with webcams, a green wall and allotments.
The pupils have been involved every step of the way, meeting with solicitors, holding facetime conferences, meeting with the council planners and during the summer term children at WJS will be donning hi-viz jackets and hard hats to work alongside professionals to actually build the pod and learn the skills required at each stage of the project.
“This has been a fantastic way to promote construction to school kids,” said Chia Oh, member services & events coordinator for the Chelmsford and Ipswich hubs. “The project has cost nothing so far – just people’s time and effort and it also already has the support of a design team, a groundworks company, an electrical wholesaler and a soil investigation team.”
