£40,000 Awarded To Establish A Maklab At Wick High School

10th May 2014

MAKLAB is one of several projects to benefit from SSE’s new £1m Highland Sustainable Fund.

It received an award of £40,000 (90% match funding) to establish a MAKLab North workshop at Wick High School and mobile MAKLAB to deliver access and skills training in digital fabrication technology across the Highland region.

MAKLAB is Scotland's only open access community digital fabrication studio, offering unique access to a range of innovative digital fabrication and traditional techniques from 3D printing and milling to digital knitting and jewellery making.

The award from the Sustainable Development Fund will help MAKLAB with its concept for ‘MAKLAB North’ which will deliver digital fabrication technology access and training in the Highlands with a focus on supporting career paths to emerging industries.

The project will involve establishing a fixed workshop at Wick High School to give pupils the opportunity to accurately design and construct the components using 3D printing technology.

There will also be a mobile van facility to visit outlying communities in the Highland region giving wider access to training and hands on experience of different digital fabrication technologies to all age ranges.

The aim is to produce a group of skilled and motivated young people for employment in engineering, renewable energy and the creative sector.

Chris Aitken, Head of Computing Science Department, Wick High School, said: “MAKLab and our partners Wick High School are delighted by the crucial support from SSE’s Sustainable Development Fund. The MAKLab North project will build on the strong engineering history of the Highlands and in particular allow communities to explore, create and develop a range of ideas from energy monitors to small scale renewables.