Ilford schoolgirls building projects for a national engineering competition received some expert advice yesterday.

Young Woman Engineer of the Year Yewande Akinola, 28, passed on her experience building designing high-rise towers in Shanghai to pupils at the Ursuline Academy, in Morland Road.

Two teams from the school gave up a day of their half term to work on innovative projects for the final of the Big Bang Fair next month.

One group, known as the Science Angels, is designing greenhouses for farmers in the Third World.

Using prototype greenhouses and high-tech solar glass, they are trying to make it easier for different crops to grow.

The other group, the Sus-tain-ables, are investigating how mud can be used as a building material.

The aim is to develop cheap natural or recycled materials to use in construction in Bangladesh.

Ms Akinola said: “These girls are thinking about solutions for the rest of the world and using the right materials, which is great.

“It’s really sad that a lot of people are discouraged from going into engineering.”

Teacher Rose Russell said the project could “inspire the next generation of female engineers”.