HMG (Highway Management Scotland), the company delivering the £320 million M80 Stepps to Haggs project on behalf of Transport Scotland, recently welcomed sixteen 5th and 6th year students and staff from the Technical Studies Department of St Maurice's High School for a day of supersized lessons in construction.

This M80 education programme developed by HMG, and supported by Transport Scotland, is designed to build links between the M80 project, the construction industry, and local schools located along the length of the route.

The programme is open to senior students from any secondary school in Cumbernauld and the Haggs / Denny areas of Falkirk who contact HMG with a request to participate.

The programme covers key construction areas including: Health & Safety, Environmental Policy and best practice, Civil Engineering, Planning, Design, IT and Project Management. The M80 project provides a real life, case study where students can see the modern construction industry at work on a major scale.

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The ‘North Road Bridge' project was of particular interest for the students from St Maurice's High, given its close proximity to their school. Pupils were given the opportunity to meet the Structures Engineer responsible for the demolition of the old bridge and the plans for the new bridge, before going on to the site to see the construction works first-hand, and talk to the specialist site staff involved.

Commenting on the M80 project education initiative, Roger Whiston, M80 Project Director said:

"The upgrade of the A80 to motorway standard provides an excellent opportunity to build links with senior technical students from local schools.

"For students who are making important decisions on their future careers, construction and civil engineering on this scale provides an excellent opportunity to actually see how the theory is made into a reality."

Teacher Bill Quigley, from the Technical Studies Department at St Maurice's High School said:

"Given our proximity to the M80 project works, we were keen to take our senior Technical Studies students to visit the site, in order to better understand the range of work and technical specialism's that go into building a 21st century motorway.

"It was a very useful and informative day for our students, and one that helped bring the project and their studies to life on a major scale."

(GK)