Think Up used Greengaged model to deliver a workshop that was highly participative, establishing the problem as a design challenge, and prompting the participants to design their way through it. Representatives from thirteen different colleges, as well as from the LDA, the LSC, ConstructionSkills and SummitSkills took part in the day’s proceedings.
The outcomes from the workshop, captured on multicoloured post-it notes attached to the walls of Eversheds’ gleaming meeting room (with a distracting view of the city), will be published in a report, which will forwarded to the LDA’s Low Carbon Skills Forum, BIS and DEC; it will also be available for download from this website.
Read more about the workshop on the project page.
The event took place in the Big Rig, a three-storey scaffolding frame created by Think Up as a flexible and robust venue for action learning.
Designed and facilitated by Think Up, and Commissioned by Podium Skills London, Low Carb was designed by Think Up to be transformative and empowering learning experience. Through the intensity of competition and exposure to low-carbon principles and technologies, the participants identify for themselves how they can make the most of the opportunities in the low-carbon construction sector. As part of the event, participants meet representatives from local colleges to find out how they can get the training that they need.
The event was a tremendous success, exceeding the high expectations of all involved. After two days both teams had successfully built an insulated shower cubicle supplied by cold and hot water, supplied by rainwater and heated by the sun to a tepid 33 degrees. A number of participants from the event will be going forward onto training courses within Colleges as well as a number of work placement opportunities that have been offered by a major construction contractor in London.
The Big Rig, conceived by Think Up as a nine metre cubed three storey scaffolding frame, is a robust and flexible venue for outdoor action learning. Its size and physical presence contribute to the excitement of the learning experience. At Low Carb the Big Rig introduced the complexity of arranging the shower components in three dimensional space. Having been plumbed up to spray water on the participants and irregular intervals, the Big Rig was also used to supply the rainwater for the event.
The Big Rig concept has generated significant interest from HE, FE and schools sectors. Think Up will develop proposals to develop the Big Rig into a fully demountable classroom that can tour the country and be used for a whole range of action learning activities.
During Low Carb, the forty or so participants will be given a design and build challenge: working in two teams they must convert a pile of low-carbon technologies - solar panels, solar-thermal water heaters, insulation - together with a heap of timber, pipes and buckets to build a low-carbon shower. They must collect their own water, pump it and heat it naturally.
The event is being hosted in the Big Rig, a three-storey scaffolding frame conceived by Think Up as robust and flexible venue for action learning. For Low Carb, the Big Rig has been plumbed up to provide the 'rainwater' for the shower systems; it provides a frame onto which components can be fixed; the Rig brings a spatial challenge to the event; and adds to the sense of wow!
During the event participants will have the opportunity to meet representatives from local FE colleges who will tell them more about how they can get the training the low-carbon construction skills they need.
Low Carb has been designed by Think Up for Podium Skills London.
