Mabey Hire STEM programme passes 2,000 students after Glasgow session with water alliance

Mabey Hire has taken its STEM Education Programme past 2,000 students since it began in 2017, the temporary works hire company said, after a joint session with Caledonia Water Alliance in Glasgow.

The company said 775 students took part during the 2025/26 academic year, its most successful year to date, and that its STEM Ambassadors delivered 20 sessions across the UK over the past year. More than 3,000 hours of student engagement were delivered in that year alone, it said.

Mabey Hire said the 2026/27 academic year has already started with a session alongside Caledonia Water Alliance in Glasgow, and that it is exploring further opportunities across the infrastructure and construction sectors.

Pamela Chisholm, Hire Desk Manager and STEM Ambassador at Mabey Hire, said: "Teaching children the ways of life through STEM is very rewarding, engaging and fun."

The change of format

The programme was launched in 2017 to encourage young people to consider careers in engineering and construction. Mabey Hire said it was originally run as a 16-week course for Years 6, 7 and 8 and was redesigned in 2023 into flexible single-topic sessions, which it said let it work with more schools and respond more easily to local needs.

The company's figures show the effect of that switch. According to Mabey Hire, 467 students took part in the previous four years of the programme, while more than 1,474 have taken part since the new format was introduced in 2023.

Period	Students engaged
Previous four years (16-week course)	467
Since 2023 (single-topic sessions)	1,474

Mabey Hire's programme page says the sessions are aimed at school children aged 10 and over and are built as stand-alone activities, mainly using LEGO Education materials. Topics cover levers, wheels and axles, pulleys, gears, pneumatics and structures.

The company has more than 20 registered STEM Ambassadors delivering the programme nationally and has built a digital platform for them that holds the content and tracks student engagement. The programme page records more than 9,000 student engagement hours logged since 2023. Mabey Hire said it wants to grow its community of ambassadors further.

The Glasgow partner

Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA) is an existing Mabey Hire customer. The hire company supplied temporary works to the alliance at Edmiston Drive in Glasgow, where CWA was delivering a new 12km section of pipeline as part of Scottish Water's work to increase water resilience for the city, according to Mabey Hire's case study of the job.

Graham Dobbin, Project Manager at Caledonia Water Alliance, said of Mabey Hire's design software on that job: "The software gave the onsite team a great visual representation of the works to be undertaken."

AECOM describes CWA as a joint venture between itself and Morrison Water Services, while M Group describes it as a joint venture between AECOM and M Group Water. According to AECOM, the alliance has led delivery of Scottish Water's capital investment programmes since 2015, first under the SR15 programme and then under a six-year extension covering SR21 from 2021 to 2027. As of November 2024 it had delivered £722m of water and wastewater infrastructure improvements for Scottish Water, AECOM said.

M Group said the Glasgow Resilience project, completed in 2025, involved 12km of main, four tunnelled crossings and a new pumping station, and provides resilience of water supply for about one million customers. Attending STEM activities is among the community commitments in CWA's social value plan for 2024 to 2030, according to M Group.

Mabey Hire

Mabey Hire traces its origins to the early 1920s, when Guy Mabey set up in building supplies in South East England. The company says its 420-strong team now sits within the 9,200-strong PERI group worldwide.

Mabey Hire said that with demand continuing to grow it is expanding the programme to support more schools, students and industry partners across the UK as it approaches its tenth year.