Belfast-based Farrans Construction has been awarded a STEM Inspiration Award for Outstanding Contribution to Widening Participation, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM.
The business received the UK-wide award due to its educational work carried out while on site at South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon.
Sponsored by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the awards celebrate the extraordinary individuals and organisations who support learning, raise aspirations and illuminate careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The judges praised Farrans saying: “While building the South Lake Leisure Centre in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, Farrans also incorporated a first-class education programme, looking to strengthen the local community and use STEM to boost children’s education and future career prospects.
"Lots of the activity centred on widening participation, from site visits and work experience, to engineering challenges and careers skills session. The judges praised the project as an exemplary case of building community engagement.”
Sarah Fearon, Community Business Partner at Farrans Construction with their STEM Award
Farrans is a building and civil engineering contractor with over 75 years’ experience of delivering construction projects across the UK and Ireland.
The company, which employs more than 500 people, has offices in London, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Belfast with further site offices connecting its regional network.
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Sarah Fearon, a community business partner at the firm said: "We are extremely proud of South Lake Leisure Centre, a modern leisure facility which we delivered for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council. As a responsible business, we always look for ways to have a positive impact on the communities we are working in.
"Our in-house Community Business Partner team look after stakeholder management, employment and skills development, community engagement and education outreach. We always engage with our clients and supply chain to create bespoke programmes which address the needs in the local area and we were delighted with the level of interest that our STEM programme attracted on this project.”
The winners were announced by STEM Learning at an online awards celebration hosted by Tara Shine (presenter of the 2020 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and director of Change By Degrees) at 4pm on 20 May 2021, and can be viewed below.
A full profile of each of the winners can be found here.
For more information on how individuals and employers can engage with the STEM Ambassador programme, please visit www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors or follow the programme on social media at @STEMAmbassadors.
