Last month City of London School for Girls visited the Tideway project to hear a presentation given by Tideway Project Director Viv Jones, as he illustrated how rewarding a career in engineering can be for girls as well as boys.

This was the second year running the school had visited the project as part of an ‘Engineering Day’, an activity the school ran with the aim of engaging young girls in the possibility of forging a career path into the engineering industry.

As Project Director for Laing O’Rouke, one the main works contractors for Tideway, Viv drew on a well of significant experience and duly captivated his young audience by telling tales of the highs and lows of his career as an engineer.

Speaking alongside Viv was Isabel Lambert, a section engineer at Cremorne Wharf Depot, who has only been in the industry three years. Isabel provided the girls with a first-hand account of how she recently entered the industry and the various projects she’s worked on thus far in her young career.

Ellie Perkins, Head of Higher Education & Careers at CLSG, explains that it wasn’t just the girls who were left enthralled by the talks: “The feedback has been very positive, and they all had a ball. Even one of the teachers came back to say he wished he'd become an engineer off the back of the day!”