Industry Partner: Balfour Beatty
Balfour Beatty is a leading international infrastructure group. They are the largest construction company by turnover in the UK, with 15,000 employees nationally and 26,000 employees worldwide. For over 110 years Balfour Beatty have created and cared for the vital assets that enable societies and economies to grow: road and rail; airports, seaports, tunnels and bridges; health and education facilities; heat, light, power and water; places to live and places to work.
The Balfour Beatty Graduate Scheme recruits over one hundred employees each year, and as part of this programme graduates are encouraged to work with local schools to engage the next generation of engineers. Lincoln UTC is regularly visited by Mechanical Engineers, Civil Engineers, Software Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Property Managers from Balfour Beatty.
Cable Drum Handler Project
Balfour Beatty Power Transmission and Distribution are responsible for some of the largest cabling projects in the country. The Cable Drum Handler (CDH) is used to unload, load and transit HVDC Cable Drums up to a weight of 50T, diameter of 4.5m and length of 4.9m. HVDC Cable is then dispensed by different methods dependent on varying factors. The HVDC cable is used to connect substations in order to power homes.
As part of the design process Balfour Beatty are required to create a comprehensive functional specification, which allows them to present the supply chain with a document that includes everything they need the given system to achieve. It also allows them to accurately cost the system and ensure it is compliant with all environmental and safety standards.
During project-based learning lessons, Balfour Beatty
challenged Lincoln UTC students to build a Cable Drum Handler using our giant
meccano set and then subsequently create a functional specification.