STEM Workshops in Peterborough

Peterborough's engineering heritage is rooted in the brick-making industry that helped build Victorian London, with the London Brick Company producing 1.5 billion bricks a year by 1935 from its works at nearby Fletton. The city became a major centre for diesel engine manufacturing when Frank Perkins founded Perkins Engines in 1932, producing power units exported worldwide. The arrival of the railway further cemented Peterborough as an industrial hub, drawing engineering firms such as Peter Brotherhood, which relocated to the city in 1906. Baker Perkins, formed in 1918 through the merger of Joseph Baker and Sons with Perkins Engineers, became a global leader in food processing and printing machinery.

Frank Perkins founded Perkins Engines in Peterborough in 1932, building a company that would become one of the world's leading manufacturers of diesel and gas engines. The city's engineering tradition has produced generations of skilled machinists, designers and production engineers. Professor Daphne Jackson, born in Peterborough and educated at the city's County Grammar School for Girls, became the UK's first female professor of physics in 1971 at the age of thirty-four, making significant contributions to nuclear physics before founding the trust in her name that has since helped over five hundred researchers return to STEM careers after career breaks.

Perkins Engines, now a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., continues to manufacture diesel and gas engines at its Eastfield site, employing over a thousand people locally. The BGL Group, one of the UK's largest financial services partnerships, is headquartered in the city and drives demand for software developers, data analysts and cybersecurity professionals. British Sugar, the UK's sole processor of sugar from sugar beet, is also based in Peterborough, employing around 1,400 people across its operations.

Young people in Peterborough can pursue careers in mechanical and diesel engineering through Caterpillar's apprenticeship programmes. The BGL Group recruits extensively for technology roles including software engineering, data science and digital product management. Environmental science careers are well supported by the RSPB, the Wildlife Trust and Anglian Water, all of which offer graduate and early-career opportunities. Peterborough College and University Centre Peterborough provide locally accessible pathways into engineering, computing and environmental management.