A group of children worked alongside Southern Regional College and the AmmA centre to recreate the new £35 million campus using Minecraft.
The three-day AmmA Summer Workshop has been designed to provide kids, aged 12-15 years from within the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council area, the opportunity to construct a virtual replica of the new SRC Armagh campus using the popular software, Minecraft.
The AmmA Centre is a multimedia creative learning centre, serving the greater Armagh area, which uses digital technology alongside traditional media for use by organisations and individuals from schools, the youth sector and the community.
This summer workshop involved the children taking part in a presentation delivered by Peter Monaghan, BIM Change Manager at Southern Regional College, to obtain a clear overview about the construction process of the new campus build in Armagh.
They also had the opportunity to visit the construction site for a guided survey of the new build and work from actual 2D architectural plans and 3D models to build a scaled copy of the entire new building using Minecraft.
They were tasked to work in teams to build the large scale structure from foundation to completion.
Daniel O’Reilly, Training Coordinator at AmmA said: “We are delighted to be working with SRC on this fantastic project.
“The children are able to work from the actual SRC Armagh Campus floor plans which the contractor, Felix O’Hare & Co. Ltd., work from.
“They also got the opportunity to visit the building site during its construction phase. This is an excellent example of how a real construction project can be used to strengthen the numeracy and STEM skills of our local school children using the Minecraft software package.”
Peter Monaghan, SRC BIM Change Manager said: “We are delighted to be working with the AmmA Centre to showcase the new SRC Armagh campus and use this project to teach our local school children about the latest technologies used in a locally based construction project.
“This summer camp highlighted the steps involved within the construction process from the design phase right through to the building’s completion.
“I have no doubt that summer camps like these have a tremendous role to play in shaping the engineers and
architects of the future.”
The new, purpose-built education campus in Armagh will comprise 14,000 sq. metres of specialist accommodation across several curriculum areas and has been carefully designed to facilitate a major uplift in the provision of professional and technical education and training.
Located on the existing Lonsdale Road site, it will also specialise in the provision of innovation hubs through which students will engage with business and industry in real world industrial projects and challenges.
Felix O’Hare and Co. Limited, the appointed contractor, is spearheading its construction.
Around 200 jobs are being created within the construction phase of the project which also includes 25 apprenticeship opportunities.
SRC’s new build project at Armagh recently won a global award, just weeks after it secured both regional and UK-wide awards for its innovative approach to procurement and project delivery.
The Armagh campus was one of three high-profile projects shortlisted this year for the New Engineering Contract (NEC) ‘Client of the Year’ Award 2018 and was later confirmed as the global winner at an awards ceremony in London.
