One Council engineer is toasting the fruits of his labour following the installation of a new bridge near Grangemouth.

Michael Walker joined the Council as a trainee Civil Engineering Technician in 2013, and now works as a Roads & Bridge Design Technician in the Council’s Engineering Design team – all while studying for an engineering degree at Glasgow Caledonian University.

As well as learning on-the-job with senior engineers, Michael gained solid project management experience after he was asked to oversee the replacement of the Jinkabout Bridge near Grangemouth.

The skeleton of the new bridge was installed on 28 March 2019, in a precise operation involving a number of partner organisations.

Speaking after the skeleton of the new bridge was put in place, Michael said:

“It’s been great to see the progression of the project, culminating in the installation.

“The Jinkabout Bridge replacement was a big project and it’s given me some great site experience. The project was quite complex and involved a lot of parties with different problems that we had to overcome. I also got exposure to different factors of the engineering side as well as project management.

“I’ve been able to study for a degree at university whilst getting experience in the real world, with real engineering projects. It’s worked well and I’m really optimistic about my future.