A new purpose-built high school under construction in Perth has played host to a group of modern apprentices from Hong Kong.

The site team from Robertson – which is delivering the new school at Bertha Park – welcomed the group of 15 apprentices from the Vocational Training Council (VTC) in Hong Kong.

The group are visiting as part of a training programme delivered in partnership with Forth Valley College. They are studying a number of specialisms across the built environment industry and learning about innovations, technologies, building techniques and apprenticeships across Scotland’s building and engineering industries.

As well as Bertha Park, the group also visited two Robertson sites in Edinburgh – the new £12 million training centre for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service at Newbridge and the £12.8m refurbishment of 10 George Street ahead of Standard Life Aberdeen’s move into the building.

Gemma Gourlay, Robertson’s director of social sustainability, said: “We were delighted to support Forth Valley College with this learning programme and provide the students with visits to three very different projects being delivered by our project teams, each using digital technology and modern construction methods in different ways.

“Robertson’s Digital Construction Strategy has seen us embed technology across the full project lifecycle to help deliver greater project certainty by enabling data driven decision making. The students really benefited from the visits and provided our project teams with some interesting questions.”

Andrew Campbell, international development manager at Forth Valley College, said: “It’s fantastic that Robertson was able to support the site visits with each providing a great experience for the group.

“Forth Valley College pitched to host the three-week programme back in January. As part of our bid, we wanted to showcase college expertise in training and education as well as the expertise and capability of the Scottish construction and engineering sectors and the benefits of education and industry working together.”

Assisting the site team with the visit were intern Ailsa Howie and civil engineer Craig McArtney, who both joined the organisation as part of the Young People Strategy. Robertson now employs 450 young people.

Craig McArtney said: “As a young person coming into the business I have been assisting others in adopting new technology after gaining experience during my studies. The students were very inquisitive when on site and it was a pleasure educating them on the technology and processes we use – such as Building Information Modelling (BIM).”

Robertson’s community development team ensure that all the work carried out brings lasting value to the communities served – actioned through understanding the needs of clients and communities and delivering engaging opportunities for local schools, colleges, universities, community groups, building users, project neighbours and other stakeholders.