Building Plymouth and The Box are working together to inspire children in Plymouth to pursue a career in civil engineering in celebration of the designer of Plymouth’s most famous landmark.
Last weekend marked the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of British civil engineer John Smeaton, who designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse, which is now better known as Smeaton’s Tower, having been rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe in 1882.
Throughout June, Building Plymouth is inviting local primary school children to visit the famous lighthouse, where they will meet real-life, modern civil engineers and learn more about John Smeaton. Known as the ‘father of civil engineering’, he left a huge legacy with his design of bridges, harbours and lighthouses.
Working in partnership with The Box, Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the University of Plymouth, school groups will be hosted at Smeaton’s Tower with the aim of inspiring the children to understand more about the city’s major civil engineering projects both past and present, and to learn about the importance of the role and career pathways into civil engineering.
Leading on the event, Emma Hewitt, Skills Lead at Plymouth City Council said: “We recognise that John Smeaton’s anniversary presents the perfect opportunity for us to celebrate our beloved Smeaton’s Tower and to raise the profile of careers in civil engineering. Through Building Plymouth, we are working hard together to inspire children and young people to consider how they could play a part in building the world around us, and to showcase the importance of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) skills.
"Creating this opportunity for children to meet real-life civil engineers onsite at Plymouth’s most famous landmark will help raise career aspirations, and hopefully attract our future budding engineers! With civil engineers in the top 10 of current job vacancies in Plymouth and over 42,000 extra construction workers needed across the Southwest region by 2028, we certainly have a lot to do to attract the future skilled workforce especially with the major infrastructure projects underway.”
Adam Murray, Learning Officer at The Box said: “Working with partners Building Plymouth and the Institute of Civil Engineers we are really enjoyed welcoming schools to the iconic Smeaton’s Tower this summer to celebrate #Smeatons300.
"Just as Smeaton’s revolutionary design inspired so many we hope the students taking part will become the new designers, engineers and innovators of Plymouth, using John Smeaton’s achievements to reimagine the future!”
Comments