Pictured left to right: Abi Waite, Alan Smith (May Gurney), Alex Ambrose, Catherine Gardner (City of Norwich School) and Adam Smith

Students engineer place in national final

May Gurney has helped four students from the City of Norwich School to reach a nationwide final after their innovative 'Silt Buster' design - aka 'The Trench Pig' - won a regional engineering competition.

The Year 12 students are taking part in the Engineering Education Scheme for England (EESE), which challenges sixth form and college students to investigate and find a solution to a real engineering problem.

Working closely with their mentor, May Gurney Project Manager Alan Smith, team members were tasked with removing pollutants from excavations on construction sites and came up with an innovative design they christened the 'Trench Pig'.

Catherine Gardner, Subject Leader for Engineering at The City of Norwich School, said: "We are very proud of the achievements of our team. The students have worked hard and accomplished a great deal. Not only have they designed a viable solution to a 'real' problem but have demonstrated their professionalism through written reports and presentations to a panel of judges"

In April, the sixth formers were awarded the Gold Crest Award for the project by EESE which recognises scientific curiosity, problem solving and communication skills. In June, the team took their design to the Crest Award regional finals in Stevenage, where they gained first place in the gold category. They have now been put forward to the national finals in London, which will take place in February next year.

Alan Smith said: "The Silt Buster is extremely successful at removing and filtering aggregates which can then be reintroduced into the construction process. This could have huge financial and environmental implications for a company such as May Gurney and the team thoroughly deserve the recognition the project has afforded them."

Alan Smith attended weekly meetings to mentor the students through the development of the project. In December 2005, the four students visited the Engineering Department at Loughborough University where they were able to build and test a prototype. Following the University visit, the device was developed into a successful model.

The project uses a conventional wet and dry vacuum and a gravity system of sieves to separate the various sized aggregates.

The students are currently looking at developing the project further in order to extract fine particles from slurries/silts, and feel that changing to a cyclical pump system with a vertical mesh may be preferable. These changes will be developed between now and the EESE final.

For further information about EESE go to: www.thescheme.org.uk

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