“An Amazing Experience” Reflecting on Equate ConStructEd 2023

We were lucky to have our sixth incredible Equate ConStructEd this year, which took place from May 30 – June 1. We had 25 women engineering, construction, and built environment students from a mix of 8 different colleges and universities who came together in 3 teams to successfully build working wind turbines from scratch.

“Great hands-on experience for people to help them learn, grow, and show them the goings on of a construction site.”

The majority of the students had little to no practical experience to reinforce their academic learning so this three days of developing their hands-on, practical skills was key in their career development, and to help them better understand the wide range of career options open to them once they graduate. The experience also presents an invaluable opportunity for the students to develop experience that they can use in CVs and interviews for securing future internships or graduate positions.

“I had never been on a real site before so this gave me great experience and taught me how a real site works.”

“It has helped me appreciate what was taught in the classroom.”

Over the course of the three days the students set out the groundworks for the turbines, managed excavations, created the formwork and reinforcements, poured the concrete, prepared the electrics, erected the turbine, and connected it to generate their own electricity.

The students were given a lot of independence to figure out their own approaches and to make mistakes which supported their learning. They were helped by an array of industry mentors who, as well as providing technical support, shared their career insights and experience.

“The programme has helped me evaluate what direction I want to go in careerwise.”

The event is not only critical for providing an avenue for women students to develop their practical skills in engineering and construction but is hugely beneficial in building their confidence and self-belief in their own knowledge, skills, and abilities. It also gives them the opportunity to develop skills in communication, problem solving, teamwork, and networking which are all vital to their career development.

“All the things I have done here is completely new and have got a really good experience working with the team.”

“An amazing opportunity that’s helped me gain confidence in my ability and allowed me to meet fellow women engineers.”

We are very proud of the progress the students made over the three days and it was a delight to watch them work together and gain confidence as the programme went on.

We are happy to report that 100% of the students were very satisfied with the experience, and all 25 students were likely to recommend the programme to a friend.

“The experience is one that I would recommend every graduate and undergrad participate in because I enjoyed every part of it and it will help me stand out in a competitive labour market.”

We received amazing feedback from the students, with one simply saying, “I am very proud of myself right now.” And another saying, “It was one of the most amazing experiences ever.”

Equate Scotland would like to thank Dale Lyon and the ConStructEd Scotland team for their incredible work in delivering the event and for their ongoing support. We are also very grateful to Sibbalds Training Ltd, Sunbelt rentals, and Morrisons Construction for the use of their equipment. We’d also like to thank the amazing mentors who joined us from Jacobs and ESD. Finally, we’d like to thank the students for their amazing efforts and attitudes which made the event such a positive experience for everyone involved.

For more information about Equate Experiential learning events keep an eye on our events page and get in touch if you want to collaborate on a future programme.

To apply for the low carbon construction upskilling programme head here.