Coatbridge-based engineering group Watson Towers has come to the aid of two major Scottish infrastructure projects in less than a month.

Early in December the company, which specialises in providing steel solutions, manufactured the steel plates which were used to repair cracked truss ends on the Forth Road Bridge, helping operators Amey and their sub-contractors Miller Callaghan reopen the bridge ahead of schedule.

Now the Group’s construction arm Cairnhill Structures is busy producing steel masts, which will be used to help engineers reopen the West Coast main line after it was closed by storm damage at the Lamington Viaduct near Carstairs.

Neil Watson, Group MD of Watson Towers Group, said: “We are really pleased to be in a position to play a part, however modest, in restoring these major transport links.

“Producing the Forth Road Bridge truss end plates was an extremely time critical job, given the pressure everyone involved was under to have it re-opened in the build-up to Christmas.

“We were ideally placed to manufacture these parts, as we carry steel stocks, and we have invested heavily in state of the art computerised profiling and steel cutting equipment and our workforce has the necessary skills.

‘That meant we were able to provide the plates to the client’s specification in line with their very tight deadlines.

“Now we are concentrating on providing some of the steel work required to effect repairs at the Lamington Viaduct.”

The Watson Towers Group, and Cairnhill Structures employ over 100 people at their factory in the former Sun Works in Coatbridge. The group has a turnover of £11 million a year and is 230th in Business Insider’s SME300, which lists Scottish headquartered companies that are in profit with a turnover of £8m to £20m.