STUDENTS from four south-west Durham comprehensive Schools are to form their own mini-construction companies as part of a redevelopment challenge.

The gauntlet has been thrown down to the teenagers by South Church construction company M&M Plasline, which has devised and sponsored a competition called The Wasteland Challenge.

Backed by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) the contest will see the students redevelop a Bishop Auckland site.

Pupils from Bishop Barrington, King James Community College, St John's RC Technology College, all Bishop Auckland, and Sunnydale School, Shildon, are being asked to devise ways of redeveloping the land.

The project is launched on Thursday and will add a new dimension to design and technology lessons.

Over the next few months, teams of year nine students will work together as construction companies.

Teachers and construction industry experts will act as mentors to them, and there will be a grand final and presentation in July.

John Straughan, of M&M Plasline, said: "It brings a bit of reality to students' work and will help them understand who does what within a company."

Kate Eldon, of the CITB education unit, said: "The aim is to give students a much better insight into the industry and the many professions involved in it."