A YORK-based firm has given a boost to pupils at a school destroyed in the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Portakabin recently welcomed students from Kensington Aldridge Academy - which is located at the base of the Grenfell Tower in Kensington and Chelsea, London - to its international head office in Huntington.

Following the tragic fire of June 2017, modular experts Portakabin were chosen to design and build them a new school.

Working closely with the Education Skills and Funding Agency and Mace, Portakabin engineers designed an interim six-block building - and built it in just nine weeks.

After completing the emergency response project in September, the team pledged to help students at the academy understand the science and technology behind it.

Six year 12 and 13 students with a keen interest in product design and engineering were invited to York, where they were given an insight into careers in science, technology, engineering and maths by design and engineering specialists.

As well as presentations and Q&As with Portakabin apprentices and graduate trainees, the students were taken on a tour of the facility - one of the largest modular sites in the country - and were shown around the manufacturing facility where their new school was built.

Academy careers co-ordinator Martha Julings, who accompanied the students to York, said: “The students found the day incredibly useful, providing a fantastic insight into the construction industry and the

world of work more generally.

“In particular, seeing first-hand the design process for their own school really helped bring the whole thing to life.”

Nick Griffin, head of regions at Portakabin, was responsible for arranging the visit and was keen to introduce the students to the science of building.

He said: “It was fantastic to welcome pupils and teachers to our head office.

“As well as being a learning environment, the school we built offers routine, structure and a safe place for the students to develop.

“Hopefully, this insight into the science of building could potentially help shape the students’ future vocation.”