Crowds flocking to bridge learning centre : Bosses urge more to get the inside track at Queensferry Crossing Open Days

And that is just the start, with the team building the Queensferry Crossing inviting more adults and children to visit the latest Open Days this Friday and Saturday (October 18 &19) at the project’s dedicated Contact and Education Centre (CEC).

During the upcoming mid-term break, the Open Days are a great opportunity for the whole family to meet and listen to presentations on the work from members of the project team. Since April, the CEC has held nine Open Days with a total of 1024 members of the public coming through the doors. The CEC can also be booked for parties of over 12 people and over a thousand additional visitors from schools, colleges, universities and other interested groups from across the UK and beyond have taken advantage of this so far.

The dedicated centre boasts spectacular views across the Firth of Forth, including the Forth Road Bridge and Forth Bridge as well as models of the Queensferry Crossing and displays about the entire construction project.

David Climie, Project Director for Transport Scotland, said:

“While our first job is to build the new bridge, we can’t ignore the golden opportunity for people to get close to and learn from a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime construction project. The CEC is aimed at ensuring we provide a legacy for current and future generations and get people as excited as we are by such a stunning feat of engineering and design.

“We obviously have a close relationship with communities immediately to the north and south of the Forth but this is also a bridge for all of Scotland and we are starting to see visitors from further afield than the immediate area.

“I’m confident we will continue to see many new and returning visitors before the bridge is open in 2016. Remember, the bridge towers are starting to emerge from the Forth this year, the spectacle will only be greater over the coming months and years.”

Since the start of the new school year, the Forth Replacement Crossing Contact and Education Centre has also begun hosting school visits as part of a rolling education programme.

Through term time, schools can book visits to the CEC. It provides an excellent opportunity to bring learning to life in a real time construction project, especially on topics such as science, technology, maths and engineering.