Millie joined the Bridge Team for a week of work experience in July 2024.
My name is Millie and I am a Year 12 student from Dartford Grammar School for Girls. I am currently studying physics, maths, further maths and fine art A-levels and after this, I am hoping to go to university to study engineering. However, in terms of what kind of career I aspire to have, I am still exploring which type of engineer I want to be which is why I came to Rochester Bridge Trust for a week’s work placement to see some of the opportunities in civil engineering!
We started the week with the bridge tour where we walked across the New Bridge and also the Service Bridge which is somewhat hidden and I didn’t know that it existed until now. I learnt that the purpose of it is so that if the engineers observe any problems with the pipework, they can fix it without having to close the entire road off and disturbing the public. Inside of the Service Bridge, there are multiple pipes including sewage and fibre optics. In addition, we completed a portico challenge where we surveyed both the Rochester and Strood porticos on the Old Bridge on both the upstream and downstream side, observing and taking pictures of any signs of damage. After gathering all the images we needed, we then sorted them according to their locations on the bridge.
My favourite part of the week was completing a series of ‘brain breaks’ which included creating Lego structures around water balloons and then freezing them to investigate the effect of water expansion on bridges. Another task was to create a self-supporting, 40cm bridge using only four pieces of paper and tape as a team. It took two attempts to manage to build a structure that was able to hold approximately 600g of weight which was quite impressive!
Throughout the week, we were also told a lot about the history of Rochester Bridge Trust and how it was founded more than 600 years ago, as well as learning about the journey of how the Roman Bridge has been replaced over time so we now have the Old Bridge (what it is known as today). I found it interesting to see the changes that have been made such as the narrowing of the starlings and the change in the positioning of the bowstring-shaped trusses from below the bridge to above the bridge.
Overall, I have really enjoyed my time spent with the Rochester Bridge Trust and it has shown me the amazing opportunities in civil engineering which will definitely help me with making future decisions about my career. Thank you to Kate, Helen and the rest of the team for such a wonderful week!
