Aurecon Design Academy named Best in Class at Australian Good Design Awards
Aurecon Design Academy wins Best in Class at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, celebrating the company's decade-long investment in developing its people.
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Over 1,000 Year 8 and 9 students (Year 9 and 10 in New Zealand) from schools located across Australia and New Zealand are set to test the bridges they have designed and built using balsa wood, string, glue on 'Judging Day' in August the culmination of the 2013 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition.
“We value high quality experiences like this that encourage and challenge students to use their ability and talent to realise their full potential,” said Robert Emery, Principal, St Pius X School.
The battle will be played out in front of all local participating schools with the bridges to be load tested to destruction. Bridge experts from Aurecon and other organisations in the industry will be appointed as judges to assess each bridge for workmanship, creativity and visual appeal which will determine an overall score.
As an engineering, management and specialist technical services consultancy, Aurecon runs this event to promote engineering as a career to students of all backgrounds.
According to a 2012 report by the Australian Senate’s Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee the success of students at STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects in primary school and high school will fundamentally impact upon each student's options at the VET and university level.
“By providing school students with a practical and engaging experience in engineering, we hope that they will take up elective STEM subjects as they progress through their high school education,” said William Cox, Aurecon’s General Manager for Australia and New Zealand.
Supported by industry sponsors, the Aurecon Bridge Building Competition forms part of Australian Engineering Week run by the Institute of Engineers Australia.
Prizes will be awarded to the schools and students who build the strongest bridges at each location and the school with the highest scoring bridge will be named the international winner.
Thursday 1 August
Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia
Friday 2 August 2013
Gladstone, Vallis Theatre
Christchurch, Addington Events Centre
Tuesday 6 August
Sydney, Art Gallery of NSW
Wellington, Te Papa
Wednesday 7 August
Melbourne, Scienceworks Museum
Perth, Western Australian Museum
Thursday 8 August
Brisbane, St Laurence’s College
Friday 9 August 2013
Auckland, Auckland Museum
Darwin, Dripstone Middle School
Registration for the competition opened in February, with most schools running internal bridge building contests to decide which student team will go on to represent their school at the Aurecon event.
The bridges entered in the Aurecon competition are constructed during school hours using guidelines and materials supplied by Aurecon: 8 balsa wood sticks 6.5mm x 6.5 mm x 580 mm long; 8 balsa wood sticks 6.5 mm x 6.5 mm x 335 mm long; 1 cardboard tube 60 d x 60l mm; 1 tube of quick drying epoxy glue and 1 piece of 5 m long string.
The competition complements Aurecon’s efforts to promote the engineering profession to secondary school students and aligns with our commitment to contributing to the communities in which we live and work.
Sponsors include: MLC, HEB Construction, Civil, Mining & Construction, Abigroup, CQ University, WICET (Wigginis Island Coal Export Terminal), Humes, Engineers Australia, St Laurence’s College, VicRoads, Consult Australia, Scienceworks, and Dwyer Engineering
Visit the competition website for further details.
Group Director, Brand, Marketing & Communications
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