STUDENTS of the future made an early visit to their university to have a look at a £30million redevelopment.

Pupils from St Joseph's Primary, in Maryhill, visited the site as part a community engagement partnership between Glasgow Caledonian University and construction company Robertson.

GCU is currently working with Robertson on the Heart of the Campus project, a £30m redevelopment that will see the creation of state-of-the-art teaching and research spaces.

During the visit, children from primaries 5 and 6 at the Raglan Street school, worked with fourth-year Environ-mental Management students from GCU's School of Engineering and Built Environment and staff from Robertson, who act as mentors.

The youngsters take part in fun activities to create awareness of construction jobs and recycling practices on a construction site and university campus.

The project will see the George Moore and Hamish Wood buildings transformed by 2016 to become better connected to the campus centrepiece, the award-winning Saltire Centre.

The development's first phase, to finish next summer, centres on the George Moore building.

The ground floor will be the home of the University restaurant and social learning space with the first floor will be dedicated to a new concept for Student Services, which will be located in an easily accessible, highly visible location.

GCU's community and public engagement co-ordinator Susan Grant said: "This waste management project follows on from GCU's long tradition in widening participation and community engagement in schools and brings in expertise from across the university and from the world of construction.

"Through the project, young people will be better informed about job opportunities in engineering.

"They will also learn about the environmental and economic reasons to reduce waste both in industry and their own schools, linking to the sciences within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence."

Gemma Nicoll, Robertson's community development manager, said: "Raising awareness of construction through these types of programmes and initiatives is key to the future success of our business and, indeed, the entire industry."