ICE helps promote Civil Engineering to thousands of young people at Manchester’s Big Bang 2010

The Big Bang is a science and engineering event aimed at under-19s. It took place for the second time in March 2010, at the impressive Manchester Central Conference Centre (an old railway station!), and a small team of ICE staff, graduate members and QUEST scholars were there to take part.

There’s one main aim of the Big Bang fair– to promote science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) careers to young people and address related skills gaps across the UK.

With over 22,000 school children, teachers and parents attending - three times as many as last year - The Big Bang was a huge success. It was also the biggest single celebration of science and engineering of its kind, and ICE was right in the thick of it.

The Big Bang 2010 was held at the Manchester Central Conference Centre and saw thousands of visitors over three days

ICE’s stand in the ‘Go Global’ zone featured a bridge construction game, which challenged students to put their science and maths knowledge into practice in the real world. The event gave us the chance to meet and inspire young people, to explain what civil engineers do and to promote the profession as a great career choice.

We also enjoyed chatting with teachers, career advisors and parents, who clearly play an important role in influencing young people. So as well as building new relationships, we were able to help raise the profile of civil engineering and meet with others in the industry.

Budding civil engineers enjoyed the chance to build bridges at the ICE stand

The Big Bang also took the chance to reward young achievers through awards and competitions like the 'UK Young Engineer of the Year' and the National Science & Engineering competition.

A number of prestigious guests were present, such as the HRH the Duke of Kent, Lord Mandelson and Olympic Gold Medalist Amy Williams. The BBC's Bang Goes the Theory presenters also attended the show, and some of them even arrived at the venue in a sustainable, coffee-powered car!

The event attracted plenty of national media coverage, featuring on the BBC, in national newspapers and in regional news networks across the UK.

We’re already looking forward to the next Big Bang event, which will take place at London’s ExCel from 10-12 March 2011. And after this year’s success, it promises to be the biggest Bang yet!