A group of prospective engineering students at Sevenoaks School visited the Crossrail Liverpool Street station and tunnels site in London on Tuesday 21 June.
Sevenoaks School took part in a visit to Crossrail, Europe’s largest construction project, facilitated by James Redman (OS 2005) WJH1, Laing O’Rourke Project Engineer.
The group of 12 students benefited directly from the outstanding introduction to the Crossrail Project, careers in engineering, and the construction industry given by James Redman. His colleague Ben Viney gave an excellent insight into the various routes into engineering including School and College Leaver programmes. It was fascinating for the students to hear more about James’ experience in industry since his graduation with an Engineering Degree from Durham University.
The group who toured the tunnel with James, Ben and Ravi Kugananthan (Laing O’Rourke Project Engineer for Tunnels and Platforms) at Liverpool Street, 45 meters below the ground, was able to see the building of the £14.8 billion project in progress.
With the tunnel connecting Reading in the West to Shenfield in Essex in the East, we were able to appreciate the technology, teamwork and cooperation needed to make such a large scale project succeed. One student commented, “what struck me most was the passion the engineers have for their jobs. I was really impressed by one of the civil engineers who spoke proudly about all the high technologies they use. He said excitedly that he enjoys making changes happen and that’s the value of an engineer. He said he loves everything about his job. I truly feel the strength of doing one thing that we love, and feel the value of pursuing our interests.”
Another student mentioned, "To witness Crossrail’s development first hand highlighted the extraordinary ways that Maths and Science can be used to help society as a whole. Having the privilege to see the workings of such a large scale project which combines civil, mechanical and chemical engineering was truly inspiring and has confirmed my desire to pursue a career as a mechanical engineer."
