Morrison Construction’s Michael Martin has taken over as project director of the consortium building the £1.4bn Queensferry Crossing.

Transport Scotland is expected to confirm this week that he has taken over from Hochtief’s Carlo Germani, who was chief engineer for the Forth Crossing Bridge Const­ructors consortium.

Germani announced he was leaving the project last month after nearly four years heading the bridge building team to take up a new job in Qatar.

Martin, 61, has represented Galliford Try-owned Morrison on the four-company consortium for two years and will now take over the chief role for delivering the new Forth bridge project.

The Carlisle-born engineer started his career with Ove Arup and was involved in both the Kessock Bridge in Inverness and the building of both the Dornoch Bridge, and Kylesku Bridge in Sutherland.

The Queensferry Crossing construction project has passed the halfway mark

Galliford Try is part of the four-company consortium that includes Hochtief, Dragados, and American Bridge of Pittsburgh in the US.

After early setbacks with the setting of the foundations the project is now reported to be back on schedule and budget as the first deck support sections were launched in the summer.

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “After three and a half years on the Forth Replacement Crossing (FRC) project, Carlo Germani has informed us that he is to leave his position as Project Director for Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors in December this year.

“Carlo has made a hugely significant contribution to the successful delivery of the FRC project to date and we pay tribute to that contribution as he prepares to move on to new challenges in Qatar. He leaves the project in a very healthy state as we move towards its final two years.”