Grimsby School Pupils & Teachers are taught by Caunton how their school is to be built

Caunton were delighted to welcome eighteen pupils from Hereford Technology School in Grimsby recently together with four of their teachers. Caunton are supplying the steelwork frame for the new Hereford Technology School. This project is a replacement secondary school for Hereford School located on the playing fields of the existing school, specialising in design technology and ICT for 900 pupils. The existing school will be replaced over the next two years by a modern, state-of-the-art building, designed to help raise the educational standard of those attending as well as meeting the needs of the communities of North East Lincolnshire. For this reason the School party was accompanied by Jan Swan, BSF Team Project Manager for the Children's Services Directorate of North East Lincolnshire Council (photo second right middle row).

The purpose of the visit was to better involve students in understanding the construction process of their impressive new school. The students were shown progressively how from starting with the architect's design of the new school, this steelwork company is manufacturing the building's steel skeleton and constructing it on-site.

Students were first shown how Caunton generates the fully detailed 3D computer model of the steel frame. Each student seated on their own Caunton computer station was given training and then the opportunity to design and draw one of the academy's steelwork connections - beam-to-column joint - utilising Stru-cad computer software.

The group then visited Caunton's own in-house academy, which has been newly re-developed, in order to observe, (and then actively participate in the welding process too), how the connection they had designed earlier is fabricated. For this both the teachers and Ms Swan were also eager participants, and all quickly became the most capable welders.

The study of the steelwork process led to a tour of the Caunton workshops where the party had the opportunity to see where the steelwork for their new school is manufactured.

The visit concluded with an illustration of how the new academy's frame will be assembled on site. To illustrate the skills necessary to erect the steelwork, there was a 'pit stop' style challenge where teams of students competed with each other to see how fast they could assemble the actual beam-to-column connection they ahd designed and welded earlier that morning.

The event was organised jointly by Caunton Engineering and main contractor for the project, Kier. Both companies believe strongly in involving the next generation in the construction process by educating youngsters on how their schools are built. This visit is just one of many visits Caunton is planning to host to build awareness of the construction process in youngsters.
Our Affiliates