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BKS SAICE Bridge Building Competition February 04, 2012  
SAICE BKS Bridge Building Competition 2011  
Our Platinum sponsor:
Link to the BKS website

Other valued sponsors are:

Link to the Pratley website

On 26 August, St Alban’s College in Lynnwood, Pretoria, had the privilege of hosting the bridge building competition once again. Main sponsor, BKS, a multidisciplinary consulting engineering and management firm, was visibly on board during the proceedings. Finalist teams from across South Africa and Namibia, come to compete to see which team could build the strongest bridge using timber, string and glue supplied by Pratley.

Fourteen teams (the best of the best) took part. The group of future engineers was given tips about bridge building by Mauritz Opperman, a structural engineer from BKS in the morning. Each team was given the same building supplies with the goal to see which 810mm bridge, the span for this year’s competition, could carry the heaviest load.

During the testing phase of the competition that evening, bridges were secured to the aluminium loading ‘rig’ to test their strength. The winning bridge was the heaviest one this year, weighing a mere 165 grams it carried an amazing 90 kilograms before it cracked under the strain. The bridge was built by Jan Joosten, Stephan Stegen and Jonas Graf, members of the proud team from Domino Servite High School. The school won again for the second time in succession. Second place went to Brackenfell High School from Cape. Their bridge weighed 135 g and carried 63 kg. Merrifield College from East London came third with a bridge weighing 154 g that withstood 36 kg before destruction. For the three teams to reach the winning marks of 133, 117 and 68 respectively, aspects such as aesthetics, the mass of the bridge and ultimately the weight-bearing capacity determined the winning bridge.

Building
building
Concentrating
concentrating
Testing
testing
Winners!
1st
Second
2nd
Third
3rd

The bridge building competition was initiated by the SAICE Durban Branch in 1991 to help generate further interest in maths and science among high school children. As part of SAICE’s corporate social responsibility and career guidance efforts, we want to help encourage young people’s interest in studying engineering as the global industry faces a massive shortage of engineers in the coming decades. This initiative, in support of government’s objective to address the scarce skills situation in South Africa, has since its inception, captured the imagination of learners and has led to many choosing civil engineering as a career!

Details:
Venue: St Alban's College Lynnwood, Pretoria
Date: Friday, 26 August 2011
Time: 08:00

Downloads

For more information contact Zina Girald at SAICE National Office on +27 11 805 5947 or zina@saice.org.za.

  
SAICE BKS Bridge Building Competition 2010  

The 2010 International Bridge Building competition took place on 28 August at St Alban’s college in Pretoria. The winning teams were:

  1. Domino Servite Secondary School - carring a weight of  268 kgs and a total score of 376
  2. Merrifield College - carring a weight of  140 kgs and a total score of 197
  3. Hoërskool Centurion - carring a weight of  96 kgs and a total score of 135

Well done to all the teams that participated.

Download the results
Download the rules
Download the entry form
Download the map for the venue
Bridge Building indemnity forms
Bridge Building provisional programme

 

Domino Servite:
Domino Servite
Domino Servite winning
Merrifield College:
Merrifield College
Merrifield College testing
Hoërskool Centurion:
Hoërskool Centurion
Hoërskool Centurion at work

All the winning teams from regional competitions enter the international final. SAICE branches are responsible to get their regions winning team/s get to Gauteng safely. SAICE transfers the teams by taxi to and from (the airport, bus or train station) the venue once the teams have arrived in the province.

Every year, each participating branch receives a sum of money from BKS to assist with expenses for local Bridge Building Competitions. We urge each branch to please mention BKS's sponsorship during your local competition and display the BKS logo somewhere in your venue or in your presentations, wherever possible. We would like to continue to receive the sponsorship from BKS for future competitions.

Suppliers contact details:
Glue: Pratley, 011 955 2190
Sticks for building: Alex Campbell 011 793 2123

  
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