PUPILS from St Ronan's and Walkerburn Primary Schools had the chance to design a sustainable housing development as part of their world of work week.

Youngsters from the schools' P7 classes were joined by Eve McCurrich and Roger Bainbridge from Whiteburn, developers of the Caerlee Mill housing site, who challenged pupils to design and cost up a sustainable housing project of their own.

During the project the children were reminded of the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) when creating such a development, especially when trying to create sustainable housing.

Eve McCurrich, Managing Director for Whiteburn told us: “We are mindful that we want our redevelopment of Caerlee Mill to be a positive contribution to the towns fabric. We want to be more than just a developer, where we can we want to help support and be part of the local Innerleithen community.

“As part of World of Work Week at St Ronan’s, we wanted to give the children an insight into our industry and how it contributes towards society. As well as the opportunity to design, plan and cost their own sustainable development we wanted to showcase the wide range of career opportunities that exist with our industry.

"Promoting the importance of STEM subjects and inspiring the next generation is our way of helping to future-proof the industry.”

Each group also had to present their development ideas, working as a team to show they had thought of every detail, including the financing of the project.

Keith Belleville, Headteacher at St Ronan’s Primary School added: “We were delighted to welcome Eve and Roger from Whiteburn back to St. Ronan’s as part of our focus on work and careers.

"We aim to encourage our children to look beyond the school gates to the world of work. On this occasion, we did this by inviting people from a range of jobs and careers to inspire the children through talks and hands on experiences.

"The practical sessions led by Eve and Roger were a real hit with the Primary 7 children who had the opportunity to apply the skills that they have developed over the years."