Homeless sleeping pod idea wins award for Bradford school pupils

A team of Bradford schoolgirls have scooped a national award for a plan to create sleeping pods for homeless people to use.

The Bradford Girls’ Grammar School group have been named among the five winners of a school competition called Big Ideas, with pupils competing against 470 teams from across the UK.

The team said their bridges would be a safe space for homeless people, offering shelter as well as mental health support and training to help them gain confidence and increase employability.

After building a model bridge and coming up with a marketing strategy, the students now hope to build a prototype of their design.

Ellenor Griffin, a social media marketing expert at Northern Gas Networks, worked with the girls on their project and called it a “great idea”.

“They are very passionate about it and how it affects their local area and we knew it would take them far, it’s such a big achievement for them,” she said.

“I hope they continue with it.”

Northern Gas Networks said it would provide additional support to help them develop the idea further.

The competition was organized by the Solutions for the Planet project and saw students aged between 11 and 14 come up with ideas to find a solution to a sustainability issue that mattered to them.

Jen Baughan, chief executive of Solutions for the Planet, said the competition as a whole “shine a light on how young people can tackle society’s biggest challenges”.

“Given the freedom and creativity to think outside the box, they could find the solutions we need to save the planet,” she said.