Residents of Chapelton, a small village in South Lanarkshire near East Kilbride, were nervous when walking, or exercising their dogs at night along a very dark path at the back of the primary school, that posed a slip & trip hazard. The residents raised the issue with their local Community Council who approached South Lanarkshire Council to see if something could be done. Unfortunately, the Council had no budget to install lighting.

Forte Engineering volunteered to take the project on and create a solution for the local area.

With the backing of South Lanarkshire Council, particularly Steven Gallagher and Chris Meechan, the team at Forte undertook the project including the design, installation, and commissioning of all the lighting along the path and agreed that the Council would maintain the lighting once the project was complete. 

Most of the electrical work was undertaken by Peter Reilly, a senior apprentice at Forte Engineering, under the supervision of Project Engineer, Chris Conachy. 

Feedback from local residents highlights the importance of this upgrade for the local community, ‘A big thank you to the Community Council and Forte Engineering for working together to bring such a vast improvement to the park area’, said Alastair McPherson.  A local dog walker said ‘We asked the council for this to happen 30 years ago and were told enough light came from the school and road lighting to illuminate the park.  But it wasn’t sufficient! This is a great improvement.’

Managing Director at Forte Engineering Derek Riddell said, “As a member of the Community Council, it was great to be able to do something positive for the local area.   I live quite close to the park and was shocked to see how little light there was at night-time – especially as a number of older residents were using the path in the evenings and later at night.  It’s great to be able to provide support to our local community and make residents feel safe when they are walking through the park.”