Auckland's Pukekohe Christian School was crowned New Zealand's bridge building champion - their winning bridge withstanding an impressive load of 78.1kg on competition day. The trio were motivated to get involved in the competition through a shared curiosity for Engineering and the opportunity to explore the industry as a possible career path.

The overall winners were students Sam, Lewis and Josh from Kaniva College, a rural school in north-west Victoria, who constructed a bridge that withstood an unrivalled 147.5kg on competition day at Melbourne's Scienceworks Museum.

Aurecon Bridge Building Competition 2015 overall winner: Kaniva College

The national title winning bridges were but two of hundreds of bridges designed and constructed by high school students across Australia and New Zealand.

Judges were wowed by the extremely high level of ingenuity and creativity brought to the competition’s 11 locations across the two countries.  Resourcefulness was also recognised this year with the Melbourne judges awarding an honourable mention to the Melbourne High School team that cleverly constructed a ‘plane’ bridge out of the left-over materials of their original competition bridge that met an untimely end the night before the competition!

The competition has made a big impact on the students. Lewis says that he is definitely considering Engineering as a tertiary pathway, with Josh very eager to follow in the footsteps of his father who has a background in the industry.

The Bridge Building Competition has been running for 10 years now. “But it never ceases to amaze me just bright and dexterous the competitors are,” comments Bill Cox, Aurecon’s Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand. “It’s an honour and a real pleasure to observe how clever, young minds engage with science, technology, engineering and mathematics in such a challenging and stimulating learning environment.”

The major winners of 2015 Aurecon Bridge Building Competition  include:

• First Prize: Kaniva College, Victoria, Australia, 147.5kg 
• Second Prize: Baldivis Secondary College, Perth, Australia, Team ‘Boomer Bridge’, 98.15kg
• Third Prize: John Paul College, Brisbane, Australia, Team JPC # 2, 93.3kg

The 2015 New Zealand Aurecon Bridge Building Competition winners were:

Auckland 

• First Prize: Pukekohe Christian School, 78.1kg
• Second Prize: Selwyn College, Team ‘Selwyn Construction 1’, 59.4kg
• Third Prize: Diocesan School for Girls, Team ‘Stirling the Brave’, 40.6kg
• Innovation Prize: Ngaruawahia High School, Team ‘Boyzz’

Christchurch

• First Prize: Hagley College, Team ‘7.0’, 74.2kg
• Second Prize: Hagley College, Team ‘Ice Shard’, 45.2kg
• Third Prize: Hagley College, Team ‘Turquoise Turtles’, 41.7kg
• Innovation Prize: Papanui High, Team Boleh

Wellington 

• First Prize: Newlands College, Team ‘The Brady Bunch’, 41.7kg
• Second Prize: Scots College, Team ‘Brain’, 30.9kg
• Third Prize: Rathkeale College, 31.6kg
• Innovation Prize: Newlands College, Team ‘Get over it’

The Aurecon annual school bridge building competition involves Year 8 and 9 students in Australia and Year 9 and 10 students in New Zealand. It aims to raise awareness of the engineering profession among students

See more here.