Second-year Civil Engineering students have taken part in an active learning initiative, giving them hands-on experience of working on real-life construction projects.
The Liverpool Constructionarium, a unique teaching development, teams up students with consulting engineers from Mott MacDonald and civil engineering contractor Morrisroe to plan, cost, manage and implement four construction projects on a purpose built, two-hectare site.
The 85 students travel led down to the National Construction College in Norfork, where site conditions have been created to include a scaled down river, three lakes, stabilised flatlands, mountainous terrain, and specially constructed ‘bad ground’ with porous strata and high ground water.
The students worked in teams and were challenged to build scaled-down versions of real civil engineering structures in one week, comprising a floating concrete gravity oil rig, a sunken precast concrete shaft with an elliptical torroid canopy (Naples airport subway entrance), the London Gherkin and the Millau Viaduct.
Dr Hussain A Khalid, Senior Lecturer in Engineering Sustainability, said: “Each team worked just like a small construction company with responsibilities for construction planning, setting out, health and safety, financial planning and the actual construction of the project. This year, the weather was mixed with some strong wind and showers, however, all the students rose to the challenge and all four projects were completed on time.”
