Crookston Castle pupil wins competition to name tunnel boring machine

Caoimhe Donnelly (10) was selected as the winner by Scottish Water, and its alliance partner Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA), with her suggestion of The Crookie Monster.

The tunnel boring machine (TBM) has recently removed earth and rocks to create a 50 metre-long tunnel under the Levern Water, from Brockburn Road to Dowrie Crescent, to enable a small section of a new water main to be installed 12 metres below the surface.

The machine took seven days to complete the tunnelling before work started on the installation of the new pipe.

Scottish Water is improving its water mains network in the south west of Glasgow by installing more than seven miles of new pipes and the installation of a section of it below the Levern Water is a key part of that.

The overall project, called the Glasgow Resilience Project, will connect the Glasgow area’s network and the system in Ayrshire to increase resilience and protect supplies for customers.

Caomhie was presented with a laminated certificate for naming the four-metre-long TBM in a competition that was open to all pupils at the school and followed site visits at which the children were able to find out more about the project.

Paul Milligan, customer and communications manager with CWA, who are delivering the project for Scottish Water, said: “It’s been great to engage with the school for the project right on their doorstep and I’d like to thank all the pupils, and their head teacher Simon Cundy, who came on the site visits for their interest.

“We had a great day with the pupils and they came up with some excellent questions on a recent site visit. Caoimhie chose a fantastic name for a tunnel boring machine and the whole project team were glad to see The Crookie Monster successfully reappear on the other side of the Levern Water.

“A lot of the pupils pass the site on their way to school so we were delighted to have had them visit the project and we hope it might inspire some of them to find out more about a career in engineering in years to come.”