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Building bridges Sandi Rhys Jones

EngineeringUK Away Day 14 January 2011. Building bridges Sandi Rhys Jones. Old Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1817. New Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1945. The Ladies Bridge.

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Building bridges Sandi Rhys Jones

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  1. EngineeringUK Away Day 14 January 2011 Building bridges Sandi Rhys Jones

  2. Old Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1817. New Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1945.

  3. The LadiesBridge Waterloo Bridge was rebuilt during WWII by a labour force that was 70% women, a fact written out of official history but well enough known to Thames riverboat men that they still refer to it as The Ladies Bridge.

  4. Bringing the past to life The Association of Women in Property decided to use the story of The Ladies Bridge to give school students an insight not only into the considerable scale of this particular bridge building job but also life during World War 2, which they are studying as part of the National Curriculum.

  5. Yesterday, today and tomorrow So exactly 65 years after its official opening, a group of 62 school students visited Waterloo Bridge to hear how it was built and how things have changed today, listened to three women engineers talking about their work and learned about the variety of job opportunities in engineering and the built environment.

  6. The people involved • 62 girls and boys aged 11/12 from Lilian Baylis Technical School • Nine teaching staff • Head of Bridges at Westminster City Council • Project manager at Hyder/West One joint venture plus two colleagues • 10 volunteers from Women in Property • 3 women speakers and chair

  7. The roadshow programme • At Waterloo Bridge, basic bridge design was explained with visuals and equipment • Students walked to the Imperial War Museum, refreshments followed by questionnaire • Intro, Ladies Bridge film, three women speakers • Question and answer session • Feedback questionnaire

  8. Seeing it for real

  9. Waterloo Bridge from the London Eye Picture

  10. Down to basics Bicycle wheel illustration from Jane Wernick

  11. Raising the Millennium Wheel Picture from Jane Wernick presentation

  12. Reaching for the sky Two pictures of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation

  13. The human element Picture of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation

  14. Probing questions • Do people believe you when you tell them what you do? • Do you have to weigh people and things to make sure a bridge is strong enough? • Did people get killed building Waterloo Bridge? • Did you really play a major role on the London Eye, or just a role? • What did you learn at university?

  15. The 'heavenly' bridge Picture of the Millau Bridge in mist

  16. What problems did the builders face building Waterloo Bridge in WWII? • Bombing 69.0% • Labour shortage 17.7% • Technical 14.5%

  17. Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge? • Sexism 60% • Secrecy 21% • History 9.5% • No evidence 6.5%

  18. Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge? • Sexism 60% • Secrecy 21% • History 9.5% • No evidence 6.5%

  19. Do you think there are more or fewer women working in building today? • Fewer 66.0% • More 19.3% • Same 3.2% • Don't know 11.3%

  20. Do you know anyone working in construction or engineering? • 70% of girls said no, 15% said yes • 64% of boys said no, 29% said yes

  21. What was the most interesting part of the event? • The film 43.5% (48% girls, 45% boys) • The speakers 22% (26% girls, 19.3% boys) • The bridge 24% (29% girls, 29% boys) Footnote One girl and one boy enjoyed everything, two boys liked the food best and two other boys didn't enjoy anything.

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