Nearly two miles of new pipes have been laid in an operation that also saw a tunnel bored under an important railway line to upgrade the town’s water supply.

CWA said the team has worked “incredibly hard in often challenging circumstances and conditions to deliver on schedule”.

The first phase began in November 2020 with new pipework installed in the town. There followed a technically challenging and delicate operation to tunnel beneath the railway line near Oban High School.

This was accomplished with round-the-clock drilling with no impact on train services or local customers.

The final phase has seen an additional 500 metres of new pipes installed.

Site manager Mark Batten said: “It has been a pleasure delivering this project in Oban.

“We have had some challenges to overcome including drilling under the railway but looking back the only thing I would change is the weather.

“Local residents have been a pleasure to work with and I would like to thank them for their patience.

“It has also been hugely rewarding to be able to involve pupils from the high school from day one, sharing knowledge on the proposals and project progress.”

Along with the projects customer manager Paul Milligan‍, Mark organised presentations to three classes showing them the importance of H&S around the site, showing them the technical drawings and explaining about what jobs are needed to deliver a project from start to finish. The pupils were then provided PPE and taken out to site to see the drilling machinery in action for themselves.

Paul said: “This is a great opportunity for the pupils studying engineering and construction to bring the textbooks to life with an exciting project that is literally on their doorstep.

“I would like to thank Terry O’Byrne for facilitating the school visits and building up the good relationship with them. Working so close to such a large school could have proved challenging, however they have turned this into a very positive story and best practice example of how to work and engage with a the school community.”

Sixth year pupil Mairi Inglis is studying engineering. She said: “I thought it was brilliant. It was definitely much better than having to sit in a classroom and have everything explained. Being able to see the drill bits and all of the materials was really interesting. I really like seeing the application of physics. Being able to see how all this actually works and how people actually do it was dead interesting.”

The head teacher thanked us for working in partnership with the school. He said: “Nothing was too much trouble for the team, any problems were quickly dealt with.

“We are also immensely grateful that our pupils were given the opportunity to work with CWA, learning about how a project is delivered.

“It has greatly enhanced their understanding of the vocational subjects they were involved in and better prepared them for the next steps in their careers.

“I would like to thank the team for their professionalism and dedication.”