Driving social value in Public Estates through the We Solve It Cup

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Public Sector

Since 2016, Amey have been delivering the We Solve It Cup (formerly the Challenge Cup), an event designed to help bridge the gender diversity gap in STEM. The event aims to increase women working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) careers.

At a glance

The We Solve It Cup is designed to help bridge the gender diversity gap in STEM by inspiring young female students to consider the varying pathways into the industry.
During the event, students develop essential skills in speaking, listening, teamwork, creativity, and leadership.
The We Solve It Cup is an excellent way for Amey to collaborate with our clients.
To date, Public Estates has proudly hosted Cup events in Barnsley, Glasgow, Bradford, and Birmingham.
This is a fantastic method of building social value across the communities we operate in.

Key metrics

1000

students reached Amey-wide through this initiative
250

students engaged through Public Estates events
2022

marked the start of Public Estates hosting We Solve It events

These events help participants to build essential skills and inspires students to consider sustainability in their future careers. Since 2022, Public Estates has delivered six We Solve It Cups and reached over 250 students.

With women accounting for just 29% of the STEM workforce, we are working to break down barriers.

What was the challenge?

With women accounting for just 29% of the STEM workforce, we want to help break down these barriers and see more diversity in the industry. We believe that one way to do this is by inspiring young women during a period of their life when they are embarking on deciding their future career – secondary school.

Since 2016, Amey has been delivering the We Solve It Cup, an annual event that invites year eight and nine female students to compete in an engineering project. During the project the students are introduced to varying roles and pathways into STEM, develop essential skills, and learn about sustainability in the built environment. Whilst the focus on the day heavily surrounds sustainability and engineering, we also take the opportunity to support students in developing essential skills in speaking, listening, teamwork, creativity, and leadership – skills which will follow students no matter which industry they eventually enter.

Public Estates is responsible for the maintenance of 140 schools across the UK, we found that the events can be adapted and evolved to allow us to collaborate with our clients. Since 2022, within Public Estates, we have hosted six such events across Barnsley, Glasgow, Bradford, and Birmingham, and have reached over 250 students.

These events demonstrate a clear appetite among the next generation to pursue meaningful careers in STEM.

How did Amey approach the problem?

The Public Estates We Solve It Cups usually challenge students to ‘Build a sustainable school’. With this, they must consider the built environment, subjects taught at the school, student groups, and sustainability. The day begins with icebreakers, personality quizzes and introductions to the challenge before giving each team working time to create a presentation. The early careers team discuss what makes a great presenter before making space for the first team to present in front of a team of judges. This team of judges is usually made up of senior members of Amey and of our client. From schools made of grass to ice cream incentives for litter picking, the students continuously demonstrate their creativity and emphasise their commitment to advocating for the environment. Despite the barriers that currently exist for women in STEM, these events demonstrate a clear appetite among the next generation to break through those challenges and pursue meaningful careers in STEM.

Group of school pupils working together around a desk — The day begins with icebreakers, personality quizzes and introductions to the challenge before giving each team working time to create a presentation.

In the last two years, these cup events for Public Estates have grown to make space for collaboration between Amey and our clients. Social value is at the core of these events and by celebrating this with our clients, we can target the communities we operate in together. This also means that we can provide an environment for Council’s to hear the voices of their young people, and the 2024 Bradford cup was an excellent example of this.

With Bradford being named the City of Culture 2025, the district is experiencing many exciting developments. One development will see south Bradford be completely redesigned to attract visitors, new residents, and keep people from Bradford living in Bradford– a project being called Southern Gateway. To do this, the Council needed to hear from the those who will be most affected, Bradford’s youth. Following conversations with the Council, we saw a fantastic opportunity to adapt the We Solve It events and uncover what Bradford’s youth want for the future of their city.

We have celebrated social value, strengthened relationships, and inspired the next generation to break through barriers.

What was the outcome?

Following conversations with the Council, for the 2024 Bradford Cup, we shifted the focus of the challenge from ‘Build a sustainable school’ to ‘Build a sustainable Southern Gateway’. This allowed us to work closely with the Council and bring a real-life project to Bradford’s youth.

Members of the Council got involved by presenting the Southern Gateway, answering questions throughout the day, and judging the final presentations. By working closely with the Council, we were also introduced to a team at The University of Bradford who 3D printed a model of the Southern Gateway which was able to be manipulated using a projector. This excellent model also had the capacity to project the students’ creations onto the model and proved to be a tangible unique method of turning visions into reality.

Working with the University also found us hosting the We Solve It event in the STEM Centre – a perfect environment for inspiring young women to consider a future in the industry. The 2024 Bradford Cup event reached 43 students from five different schools and proved to be an ideal opportunity to build relationships with each organisation keen to work together in the future.

All We Solve it events within Public Estates have been a great success and hosting annual events with the same client proves this. We have celebrated social value, which is at the heart of the event, strengthened relationships, and inspired the next generation to break through barriers. We are excited to continue hosting We Solve It Cups across our schools and we anticipate more opportunities for collaboration in 2025.