Guides and Rangers who complete at least two of the included activities in the civil engineering challenge across two unit meetings will earn a civil engineering badge.

The programme expands a successful pilot that has been running in Northern Ireland, Wales, London and the South East. 

To date, over 6,000 civil engineering badges have been awarded. Girlguiding leaders and participants praised the activities and rated them a 4.6 out of five stars.

As part of the activities included in the challenge, girls are tasked with building rainproof emergency shelters, with materials provided, in 30 minutes.

They are also asked to design a water distribution system to move clean water from one village, represented by a bucket, to another.

Some of the activities also encourage the girls to imagine they are engineers responding to a hurricane. 

The activities can be led by a Girlguiding unit leader but the programme also aims to connect ICE members, who are practising civil engineers, and STEM Ambassadors with local Girlguiding units.

One participant said: “We loved building the bridges out of Twixes. Talking to a real civil engineer was interesting.”

ICE Scotland interim regional director, Malcolm Jackson, said: “We welcome the expansion of the Girlguiding civil engineering badge into Scotland, particularly as it has proved very successful in other parts of the UK.

“Our STEM ambassadors across the country are already looking forward to supporting this initiative and encouraging more young women to become involved in civil engineering.

“Our aim is to encourage even more young women to take the lead in transforming our built environment, bringing diverse perspectives, creativity, and fresh approaches to civil engineering—qualities that all engineers need to help solve the complex challenges of our modern world.”

Elaine Rough, chief commissioner for Girlguiding Scotland, said: “Girlguiding Scotland helps our young members realise that they can do anything, think big and be bold.

“Through this exciting new partnership with ICE, we hope that our girls and young women will relish the opportunity to learn new skills and develop their confidence to know that they can have a positive future in STEM.”

Eleni Pappa, associate chartered civil engineer at Croft Structural + Civil and an ICE STEM Ambassador who supported one of the Girlguiding units in South East England, commented: “Supporting the guides as they worked towards earning their civil engineering badge was such a rewarding experience.

“It was fantastic to witness their curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving skills in action.

“The hands-on activities not only introduced them to the fundamentals of civil engineering but also demonstrated how this field shapes the world around us—from designing bridges to making cities more sustainable.

“Opportunities like this badge are crucial for showing young people, especially girls, that engineering is accessible, exciting, and full of potential.

“Seeing their confidence grow as they tackled real-world challenges was truly inspiring, and I’m hopeful that this experience will encourage some of them to further explore a future in STEM.

“It’s initiatives like this that play a key role in building the next generation of innovative engineers.”