STEM Workshops in Wigan & St Helens

Wigan and St Helens powered the Industrial Revolution in every sense. Both towns sat on extensive coalfields that fuelled the factories and furnaces of Lancashire for centuries. Pilkington Glass, founded in St Helens in 1826, grew into one of the world's largest glass manufacturers and remained the town's defining employer for nearly two hundred years. The Sankey Canal, opened in 1757, is widely regarded as one of the first industrial canals in England, while the Sankey Viaduct, designed by George Stephenson for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, was among the earliest railway viaducts. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through Wigan, where Trencherfield Mill still houses a large working mill steam engine.

Sir Alastair Pilkington developed the float glass process at Pilkington Glass in St Helens during the 1950s, announcing it publicly in 1959. This innovation produces perfectly flat glass by floating molten glass on a bed of molten tin. It revolutionised the glass industry worldwide and remains the standard manufacturing method for flat glass today. Most of the world's windows and car windscreens are made using the float glass process developed in St Helens. The broader chemical industry in the St Helens and Widnes corridor, sometimes called "the chemical capital", produced generations of process engineers and chemists who advanced industrial chemistry.

Pilkington continues to operate in St Helens under the NSG Group umbrella following its 2006 acquisition by Nippon Sheet Glass, maintaining manufacturing and research operations in glass technology and materials science. Wigan has developed a significant logistics and distribution sector, benefiting from its position at the junction of the M6 and M58 motorways. Both towns benefit from proximity to Manchester and Liverpool, two cities with major and growing technology, digital and life sciences sectors. Wigan sits within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, while St Helens is part of the Liverpool City Region, giving young people access to STEM opportunities across both city regions.

NSG/Pilkington offers apprenticeships and careers in glass manufacturing, materials science and process engineering at its St Helens operations. The logistics sector in Wigan provides roles in warehouse automation, robotics and supply chain technology. Manchester and Liverpool, both within easy commuting distance, offer extensive STEM career options across digital technology, engineering, life sciences and financial services. The University of Manchester, the University of Liverpool and their metropolitan counterparts are all accessible for degree-level STEM study. Wigan and Leigh College and St Helens College provide further education pathways in engineering, computing and construction.