Glasgow Science Centre

Glasgow Science Centre is a visitor attraction located on the south bank of the River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a purpose-built science centre composed of three principal buildings which are the "Science Mall", an "IMAX cinema" and the "Glasgow Tower". The Scottish tourist board, VisitScotland, awarded Glasgow Science Centre, located in the Clyde Waterfront Regeneration area, a five star rating in the visitor attraction category. [cite web | title=Glasgow Science Centre on Visitscotland.com | url=http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,SIG48295Svs,curr,GBP,season,at1,selectedEntry,home/home.html
accessdate= 2007-07-24]

Buildings

cience Mall

The Science Mall is a titanium-clad crescent shape structure that houses three floors of interactive science-learning exhibits, a Science Show Theatre and the ScottishPower Planetarium. [cite web | title=MERO Construction website on the Glasgow Science Centre| url=http://www.merouk.co.uk/structures/2001gsc.htm |accessdate= 2008-04-26] [cite web | title=Glasgow Science Centre webpage on the Science Mall | url=http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/sciencemall_4.aspx |accessdate= 2008-04-26] The planetarium, sponsored by Scottish Power, contains a Zeiss optical-mechanical projector that projects images of the night sky onto a 15m diameter dome. [cite web | title=Zeiss Press release| url=http://www.zeiss.com/c12567b00038cd75/Contents-Frame/ee1fd0d05bbcc39bc1256b6f003c7d01 |accessdate= 2008-04-26] [cite web | title=Zeiss installation list| url=http://www.zeiss.com/c12567b00038cd75/Contents-Frame/cd498b133073712741256a76004e9e4b |accessdate= 2008-04-26]

IMAX Cinema

The IMAX cinema was the first IMAX cinema to be built in Scotland. The single auditorium seats 350 in front of a rectangular screen measuring 60 feet by 80 feet and has the capability to show 3D films as well as standard 2D films in IMAX format. [cite web | title=Big Movie Zone | url=http://www.bigmoviezone.com/txshows/theaters/index.html?uniq=695|accessdate= 2008-09-17] It opened to the public in October 2000, several months prior to the opening of the two other buildings. [cite web | title=Millennium Commission News October 2000 | url=http://www.millennium.gov.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1184&d=11&h=24&f=46&dateformat=%25o-%25B-%25Y|accessdate= 2007-07-24]

Glasgow Tower

Infobox Skyscraper


building_name=Glasgow Tower
location=Glasgow, Scotland
antenna_spire=convert|127|m|ft|0
built=2001
engineer=Buro Happold
architect=Richard Horden
use=Observation towerAt 127 metres high, Glasgow Tower is currently the tallest tower in Scotland and the second tallest free-standing structure after the Inverkip Power Station chimney. It also holds a Guinness World Record for being the tallest tower in the world capable of rotating 360 degrees from its base to its top. [cite web | title=Flickr photo of World Record certificate | url=http://flickr.com/photos/danlewry/1463053758/|accessdate= 2007-11-10]

Design

It is shaped like an aerofoil (as if an aircraft wing had been set in the ground vertically), with computer-controlled motors to turn it into the wind in order to reduce wind resistance. The tower, previously known as the Millennium Tower, was the winning design in an international competition to design a tower for the city centre of Glasgow. [cite web | title=Horden Cherry Lee Architects | url=http://www.hcla.co.uk/projects/?prorub1=ap&prorub2=5&pid=67
accessdate= 2007-07-24] The tower is the spiritual successor to the Clydesdale Bank Tower that stood on approximately the same spot during the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival.

Tallest Building Debate

When completed in 2001, it became the tallest tower in Scotland. The website for the tower claims it is "The tallest freestanding building in Scotland". [cite web | title=Glasgow Tower Facts | url=http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/FileAccess.aspx?id=676
accessdate= 2008-03-28] Although the tower has an observation desk (at 105 metres), it does not have floors continuously from the ground and therefore it is not considered a building by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). If it had gone ahead, the planned 39-storey Elphinstone Place residential tower in the city's financial district would have replaced Glasgow Tower as the tallest structure in Glasgow, and become Scotland's tallest building, however the project was cancelled in July 2008 with the developers citing the credit crunch for the decision. [cite web|url=http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2393143.0.Credit_crunch_fells_120m_city_tower.php|site=The Herald|title=Credit Crunch fells 120m City Tower|accessdate=14th July 2008] . At present, Inverkip Power Station is Scotland's tallest free-standing structure, with the Black Hill Transmitter mast the tallest man-made structure overall.

History

The tower has been plagued by safety and engineering problems throughout its history. Problems with the Nigerian-made thrust bearing on which it rotates led to it being closed between February 2002 and August 2004. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3590480.stm
accessdate= 2008-03-28] On 30 January 2005, ten people were trapped in the lifts and only rescued after five hours. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4220295.stm
accessdate= 2008-03-28] Following the incident, the tower re-opened again on December 21 2006. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6197341.stm
accessdate= 2008-03-28]

In September 2007, a charity abseil event was held on Glasgow Tower. [cite web | title=Glasgow Science Centre webpage on event | url=http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org/glasgowtowercharityabseil_1.aspx |accessdate= 2008-04-26] [cite web | title=Cash for Kids charity page | url=http://www.cashforkids.org.uk/get.html |accessdate= 2008-04-26]

History

Opened to the public in June 2001, Glasgow Science Centre is part of the on-going redevelopment of Pacific Quay, an area which was once a cargo port known as Prince's Dock. [cite web | title=BBC News report on the opening of Glasgow Science Centre | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1394637.stm |accessdate= 2008-04-26] [cite web | title=Glasgow Architecture website on Pacific Quay | url=http://www.glasgowarchitecture.co.uk/pacific_quay.htm |accessdate= 2008-04-26] The architects of the Glasgow Science Centre were Building Design Partnership, however the Glasgow Tower was originally designed by the architect Richard Horden with engineering design by Buro Happold. [cite web | title=Horden Cherry Lee Architects | url=http://www.hcla.co.uk/projects/?prorub1=ap&prorub2=5&pid=67
accessdate= 2007-07-24] [cite web | title=BDP Architects | url=http://www.bdp.co.uk|accessdate= 2007-07-24] It was built at a cost of around £75 million, including £10 million for Glasgow Tower, with over £37 million coming from the Millennium Commission. [cite web | title=HMie Review of the Contribution of the Scottish Science Centres Network | url=http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/sscn.html |accessdate= 2008-05-05] [cite web | title=Millennium Commission Awrds | url=http://www.millennium.gov.uk/cgi-site/awards.cgi?action=detail&id=175|accessdate= 2008-05-05]

Funding Issues

In June 2004, it was announced that about a fifth of the workforce were to be made redundant following the creation of a funding deal with the Scottish Executive. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3851349.stm|accessdate= 2008-07-02]

Then in June 2008, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Nicol Stephen, stated that Glasgow Science Centre was facing a 40% cut in government funding. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7437912.stm|accessdate= 2008-07-02] Prime Minister Gordon Brown commented on this issue during Prime Minister's Question Time saying, "It's unfortunate in Glasgow that as a result of the SNP, funding has been cut, and they will live to regret that". [cite web | title=Evening Times News Report | url=http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2376867.0.0.php|accessdate= 2008-07-03] Although funding for the Scottish Science Centres as a whole has actually increased, it is now being split between four centres using a formula based on visitor numbers, and Glasgow is the only centre to face a reduction in budget. [cite web | title=SNP News Release | url=http://www.snp.org/node/14009|accessdate= 2008-07-03] This led to the announcement in July 2008 that 28 full-time jobs were to be cut as a direct consequence of the cuts "in order to secure Glasgow Science Centre's future", according to the Chief Executive, Kirk Ramsay. [cite web | title=BBC News Report | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7487335.stm|accessdate= 2008-07-03]

In the media

In the CBeebies television programme Nina and the Neurons, the title character Nina is a neuroscientist who works at Glasgow Science Centre. [cite web | title=CBeebies Nina and the Neurons webpage | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/about/programmes/ninaandtheneurons.shtml|accessdate= 2008-04-28] In reality, Nina is played by the actress Katrina Bryan who is not a staff member at Glasgow Science Centre.

Several programmes including CBBC's Do Something Different were filmed in and out of Glasgow Science Centre.Fact|date=April 2008

The area surrounding the Glasgow Science Centre is expected to become Glasgow's equivalent of London's south bank, home of The London Studios.Fact|date=April 2008 More programming is to be filmed around the science centre because of the new STV headquarters, which opened in June 2006, and BBC Scotland's Pacific Quay Studios which began to broadcast programming in the summer of 2007.Fact|date=April 2008

References

ee also

* Our Dynamic Earth - Science Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland.
* Satrosphere Science Centre - Science Centre in Aberdeen, Scotland.
* Sensation Science Centre - Science Centre in Dundee, Scotland.

External links

* [http://www.glasgowsciencecentre.org Official website]
* [http://www.inglasgow.com/inglaig/gallery.asp?categoryid=25 Photos of the Science Centre]
* [http://www.merouk.co.uk/structures/2001gsc.htm Article on Construction of the Glasgow Science Centre]
* [http://www.inglasgow.com/inglaig/gallery.asp?categoryid=25 Photographs taken from the tower and of the tower]
* [http://www.scotlandontv.tv/scotland_on_tv/video.html?vxSiteId=60fdd544-9c52-4e17-be7e-57a2a2d76992&vxChannel=Visit%20Places&vxClipId=1380_SMG781 Online video of the view from the tower]