Cambridge Primary School pupils take part in 'Grow your own home challenge'

Budding young builders from Bar Hill Primary School, Cambridge, have gone head to head in a competition to build a house made completely out of recycled materials, with the help of construction and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall Construction.

Forty year five pupils put their design skills to the test to take part in the ‘Grow Your Own Home’ challenge, supported by Morgan Sindall Construction and Cambridge LaunchPad.

Pupils were split into teams and asked to research and develop ideas to create a sustainable house constructed only from materials that can be grown or recycled. The teams’ designs needed to be adaptable to British weather conditions and illustrate how it would like look both on the inside and outside.

The model homes were then judged by Morgan Sindall Construction’s design manager Colin Hobart.

The day was part of the Cambridge LaunchPad’s wider drive to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in young people, and educate them about the career opportunities available within the sector. Cambridge LaunchPad is managed by social enterprise Form the Future CIC.

Morgan Sindall Construction hosted the event at the Littleport & East Cambridgeshire Academy, which was part of a £37.5 million project recently delivered by the company on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council. The new three three-storey secondary school will initially cater for 600 pupils aged 11 to 16, with the potential to expand up to 750 pupils.

Highfield Littleport Academy SEN school will cater for 110 pupils between the ages of two and 19, with facilities including a hydrotherapy pool for swimming therapy programmes.
The complex also includes the new Littleport Leisure Centre, which features a sports hall, fitness suite, multi-use hall, changing facilities and social area, all of which are available for secondary school and wider community use.

Bob Ensch, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “It was fantastic to see all of the pupils so engaged and really embracing the challenge. “Morgan Sindall is deeply committed to sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of our operations. Schemes such as ‘Grow Your Own Home’ are a great way to encourage the next generation to start to consider the importance of sustainable development and its impact on the world around us.
“We were delighted to be able to host the challenge at Littleport & East Cambridgeshire Academy, a project that we recently delivered as part of the sustainable regeneration of the local area. It was the perfect setting to demonstrate to the pupils how we have delivered a real-life building with sustainability at the forefront of its design.”

Molly Askham, STEM outreach assistant from Form the Future CIC, said: “The students were given an outline of their task ahead of time so that they could start to design and plan their buildings. The Project Day then gave them a great opportunity to take what they had learnt in the classroom and apply it to a real-life, hands on task.
“Speaking to the students on the day, they had really learnt the benefit of being able to adapt their plan and work as a team in order to construct a more successful eco house. The brief really allowed their imagination and creativity to flow and it was great to see their designs come to life!”

Morgan Sindall Construction is currently on-site at major schemes across the region. In Lowestoft, the company has been appointed to a deliver the new £16 million headquarters for world-leading UK marine science agency Cefas (The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science). The development will provide the organisation with a purpose-built, sustainable building and refurbish their existing laboratories to bring them up to date, enabling Cefas to continue to build on its 115-year-old globally-recognised marine science heritage.

• For more information about Morgan Sindall, please contact Stephanie Bocking at Influential on 0161 935 8474 or email [email protected]