Stantec inspire STEM Competition winners

Stantec were delighted to host the Winners of The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition in June. The Big Bang is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for 7 to 19 - year olds, run by Engineering UK. The Competition recognises and rewards young people's achievements in all areas of STEM, whilst providing them with the opportunity to build their skills and confidence in project-based work.

Stantec are proud to be involved in The Big Bang events throughout the UK and attend various fairs and events during the year, in addition to sponsoring an award in the Competition.

The winning team of 'The Stantec Future Communities Special Award’ was from Corbridge Middle School with their project ‘Dyeing to Save the Aquatic Environment’. The team walked away with a prize of £500 and the chance to see sustainable solutions in action on some of our partner projects.

The the winning team was taken on a tour to Killingworth Lake Site (K&L) - a sustainable sewerage project, Proctor and Gamble (P&G) - a soap powder manufacturer and Howdon Sewage Treatment Works (STW) to look at how their idea could work in real time.

The day was a huge success and their teacher, Dr Meyrl Batchelder, said, ‘’Thank you Paul for the incredible day out, we had an amazingly informative and inspiring day.’’ Speaking of the visit the Howdon the students commented, 'When someone offers you a tour of a Sewage Treatment Works you are uncertain what to expect. We shouldn't have worried - the welcome was warm, the background information detailed but not dull and the tour was fascinating! Great to be taken on top of the sludge biodigester and to hear about all of the sustainability work Northumbrian Water are doing'. The team also enjoyed their visit to P&G stating, 'Their Safe Drinking Water Programme showed us how chemistry can be used to fix some of the world's sustainability problems'.

Paul Joyce, Stantec project technical leader, who planned and attended the visit said, "It was a pleasure to introduce the girls to some of the works we are engaged in, and to show them the wastewater cycle from source to treatment, and discharge back to the environment. Hopefully they were inspired by the sustainable project (K&L), the research being carried out by P&G to produce more eco-friendly products, and the advances made in providing energy from waste at Howdon STW to encourage them into a possible career in engineering".