Building bridgesSandi Rhys Jones

EngineeringUK Away Day 14 January 2011

New Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1945.

Old Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1817.

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.

The Ladies Bridge

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.

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.

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

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

Seeing it for real

Waterloo Bridge from the London Eye

Picture

Down to basics

Bicycle wheel illustration from Jane Wernick

Raising the Millennium Wheel

Picture from Jane Wernick presentation

Reaching for the sky

Two pictures of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation

The human element

Picture of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation

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?

The 'heavenly' bridge

Picture of the Millau Bridge in mist

What problems did the builders face building Waterloo Bridge in WWII?

Bombing 69.0%

Labour shortage 17.7%

Technical 14.5%

Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge?

Sexism 60%

Secrecy 21%

History 9.5%

No evidence 6.5%

Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge?Sexism 60%

Secrecy 21%

History 9.5%

No evidence 6.5%

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%

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

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.