Tannzeelah's welcome insight into the world of structural and civil engineering

A structural and civil engineering company has given an Oldham student some insight into its wide-ranging activities during a four-week work experience placement.

Edge Structural Design welcomed Tannzeelah Javid, aged 19, to its office at Chambers Business Centre in Oldham.

The company was founded in 2000 by Adam Sedgwick, who lives in Saddleworth, and provides services to commercial and domestic clients including civil and structural services, temporary works design, structural inspections and reports.

It provides consultancy engineering services on a wide variety of projects.

These include the construction of swimming pools, city centre apartments and large warehouses, foundations and excavations, drainage, highways, work on old or at-risk buildings such as mills and chapels, and improving challenging sites such as polluted, water-logged, unstable or hillside plots to enable new developments.

Tannzeelah, from Coppice, is a former Newman RC and Blue Coat School pupil who is now beginning her second year of an MEng civil and structuring engineering course at the University of Leeds.

She said: “I was looking for work experience with an engineering firm and Edge Structural Design really interested me.

"I’m particularly interested in structural engineering and contacted Adam at Edge. He invited me for a chat and offered me a four-week placement.

“I’ve had a really interesting time working in the Edge office and going outside on site visits.

"I’ve learned lots of technical and software skills. It’s nice to see what I’m learning at university being applied to real engineering projects.

"It’s also been great to work with civil and structural engineers in Edge’s multi-disciplinary team.”

The UK’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics sectors have been keen to attract more young women in recent years, with opportunities at all levels ranging from apprentices to university graduates.

Tannzeelah said her degree course at Leeds has a 60-40 ratio of male to female students, which seems to suggest a growing awareness among young women, their families and schools of civil and structural engineering careers. 

Recalling her career guidance at school and at home, Tannzeelah said: “We used to have a lot of career events at school and the teachers started talking about university choices in the first year if my A-levels.

"I looked at various university courses and jobs, but some of them didn’t appeal to me.

"However, I became interested in civil and structural engineering.

“At home, my dad originally wanted me to become a pharmacist.

"But when I said I wanted to study engineering, he said OK. There are lots of interesting careers open to civil and structural engineers.

“My course at Leeds is hard work but really interesting.

"I’m glad I’ve chosen civil and structural engineering, and I’d definitely encourage other young women to consider it.”

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