A STUDENT from Lymm High School has been ‘highly commended’ by the Institution of Civil Engineers’

Lara McDonald, who entered the competition representing ‘Women in STEM’, or science, technology, engineering and maths, went up against 1,500 other people from across the UK.

Lara narrowly missed out on the top spot in ICE’s national civil engineering competition CityZen, but her proposal was so impressive that the judges made a special award for her.

CityZen is a two-stage competition that in the first stage sees students play the online CityZen game, which involves overcoming a series of civil-engineering-inspired challenges.

In the second stage, students apply their learning from the game by putting together a video proposal in which they suggest a civil engineering solution for a problem in their area.

Previous winners have suggested everything from redesigning traffic patterns to address road congestion at school pick-up times, to using geothermal heat pumps to heat neighbourhood businesses.

Lara’s winning proposal included a suggestion to remediate a brownfield site in Warrington, which the entry heard is one of the most contaminated towns in the UK.

In her proposal, Lara explains that approximately 23 per cent of land in Warrington is contaminated due to involvement in the chemical industry.

Her research discovered that by cleaning up an old industrial site, developers would have the space to build new and affordable housing in the area.

As her prize for winning a special award, Lara attended a VIP lunch with ICE president Anusha Shah at the institute’s London headquarters.

Since 2021, more than 3,000 16-to-18-year-olds have taken part in CityZen, and the competition is beginning to have real impact on the UK’s shortage of engineers.

Research has shown that CityZen participants are ‘both significantly more likely to apply and be accepted onto engineering and related courses, especially civil engineering courses’.

Sean Harris, ICE’s deputy director general, said: “CityZen judges and I were hugely impressed by the passion, creativity, and determination of this year’s entrants.

“Their imaginative solutions tackle pressing urban challenges and embody the innovative and collaborative ideals that define civil engineering.

“It is clear they want a future that is more sustainable and resilient, and their ideas give me hope. Congratulations to the winners and every student who participated.”