A HI-TECH housing company is celebrating two years working with refugees and asylum seekers in Springburn.

BRS Technologies - a firm which builds air-quality monitors for homes - partnered with Bridges Programmes, which supports refugees going into work in 2018.

The director of the project met with a BRS director after identifying a cross-over in the skills of their members - who were highly qualified in computing and software development but having difficulty finding jobs - and the company’s needs.

Bridges works with asylum seekers, refugees and Glaswegians who speak English as a second language from countries such as Bulgaira, Syria, Libya, India and Pakistan.

Many of them had PhDs and high-level qualifications in computing science but were struggling to put their skills to use in the job market.

BRS builds monitors to measure air quality in homes and has developed artificial intelligence systems to predict where problems might occur before they crop up.

Liz Porter, Bridges’ Assistant Director, said: “The directors at BRS were very clear in what they were trying to do in their mission of analysing indoor air environments so that owners, landlords, housing associations and others could make sure it is as healthy as possible.

“I told them that we had programmers and coders on our books and since then we’ve supplied people to them – some short-term and some long-term – and we continue to work together where possible.”

A BRS Director, Michael McKiernan said that not only had the Bridges workforce brought impressive levels of talent to the company but that the firm had benefitted from a broader range of perspectives through a more diverse workforce.

He said: “When we discovered the talent Bridges had available it made sense on so many levels to get involved with them to help boost the Scottish workforce that we had.

“We’ve hired from Bridges and we’ll look to do so again when the time is right. How can you not support an agency trying to do the right thing for so many people in Scotland? We’re an incredibly diverse and welcoming country and we should continue to be so.”