Fast Trackers Project Wins Award

The ‘Fast Trackers’ project has been awarded ‘Graduate Initiative of the Year’ at the Construction News Talent Awards 2018.

Fast Trackers was a collaborative project delivered in conjunction with Greater Manchester Higher, FutureU, Network Rail and Mott MacDonald. The programme included a visit to the School of Engineering at University of Liverpool, visits to engineering employers across the North West, and a three-day residential experience in London where teams of students worked together on a project-based challenge set by Network Rail and Mott MacDonald graduate engineers. While students were in London, they also visited the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and visited the new London Bridge station.

The Award recognises the work of Network Rail and Mott MacDonald’s graduate engineers, who created the project-based element of the programme and worked with the young people on their proposals for the redevelopment of Euston station and the new HS2 line.

Higher Horizons+ part-funded the programme in order to raise young people’s awareness of the opportunities available to them in the world of rail engineering if they continue their studies at a higher level, and see where their interest could take them in the real world.

Higher Horizons+ Operations Manager, Hannah Merry, said, “We know how important it is to give the young people we work with examples of how the subjects they’re studying can translate into a career when they’re older. Quite often they might not know people who work in these types of jobs or have anyone to ask about them. The programme was designed to link education to employers and give the young people an unforgettable experience that would raise their aspirations about what they can achieve in the future.”

Plans for Fast Trackers 2019 are already underway.