STEM success for Mott MacDonald Bentley at annual ICE awards
- Hannah Tetlow
- 12 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) were delighted to win the Education and Inspiration award at the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) West Midlands awards, held on 1 May in Birmingham.
Our teams based in the West Midlands - who are delivering water and wastewater schemes on our multi-million-pound frameworks with Severn Trent – attended the ceremony alongside a host of industry professionals to celebrate the very best in engineering and people across the region.
The team were proud to receive the Education and Inspiration award for their efforts in driving STEM to support our long-held company tradition of investing in early careers. Our dedicated network of STEM ambassadors builds and maintains relationships with educational institutions across the country, promoting STEM values to young people and educating them about the career opportunities in construction and engineering.
Last year, they collectively delivered over 1,000 hours of outreach – 360 of which were across the East and West Midlands region. This has included:
Delivering a bridge building activity to secondary schools which takes students through a project from conception, detailed design and construction. The students are shown how engineers use computers to analyse forces on structures and are given the chance to use virtual reality (VR) headsets to explore the model of a bridge built by MMB.
Visiting local primary schools to teach children about the water cycle, using our mascot 'Ellie the Engineer'. The students are also challenged to filter ‘sewage’ in teams with given materials to encourage their problem solving and teamwork skills.
Supporting the roll-out of our skills bootcamp initiative, which provides free training and upskills those looking to get into construction.
Attending university careers fairs to showcase the variety of career opportunities at MMB and within the wider industry.
Volunteering with a Wolverhampton Scout group, helping them learn about sustainability in engineering and the importance of protecting nature during projects. Our Ecology and Sustainability team reclaimed waste materials from sites and used these to create bug houses with the Scouts.
Partnering with The School Outreach Company, who connect us with local schools to maximise visibility of our business, so we can engage with under-represented students, deliver educational outreach, attend events, and provide STEM support.
We have also participated in the Engineering Development Trust’s (EDT) Gold projects for 13 years, and fostered lasting relationships with Highfields School, Wolverhampton, and Shrewsbury High School for Girls over this period. Each year, colleagues from MMB mentor year 12 students through an 8-month project focused on challenges in the water industry, teaching them about key communication and project management skills. MMB have been recognised as one of four Exemplar Employees by the EDT for our commitment to excellence, innovation, social responsibility and long-term investment in talent.
Congratulations to the teams and to all those who were recognised at the event.
