Mystery over reopening date for £10m science tower

Published on Saturday 10 July 2004 02:33

THE opening date of the fault-plagued £10 million Millennium Tower at the Glasgow Science Centre is still shrouded in mystery after officials yesterday could only announce that it is to reopen "later this summer".

The announcement was made during a visit to the 75 million centre by the Princess Royal, but a spokeswoman said they were unable to even say on what date the official opening would be.

The 100-metre-tall observation tower, which is Scotland’s highest freestanding structure - and is designed to rotate with the wind - has been shut for nearly three years since a key bearing in its base failed.

The centre and tower were opened by the Queen in 2001 but the tower had to be shut down four months later.

Ilya Scott, a spokeswoman for the centre, said the contractors were still to hand the tower back to the centre, so no final opening date could be released. "The majority of the testing has been successfully completed and everything seems to be in working order," she added. "But I cannot say when the tower will reopen, or when we can tell you that date has been decided."

A specially-made replacement bearing was installed last August, enabling the tower - the only one in the world to rotate completely - to again turn in the wind.

The new bearing was produced by the German firm Dyn Metals, with its steel section made in the UK and the bronze part made in Dsseldorf.

Engineers from Carillion, the principal contractors, are making final checks on the rest of the structure before handing it back to the science centre.

An abseiler was also hired in to check software in the computerised weather station at the top of the tower. The equipment takes wind speed and direction readings and tells the tower when to turn.

The centre’s chief executive Brian Weddell said the Princess Royal was delighted to hear that the tower would soon be operational.

"It was a great honour for Glasgow Science Centre to show her some of the extraordinary experiences which make up our popular Science Mall, which has entertained over a million visitors since opening," he said.

The princess began her visit to the centre by meeting more than 20 children from Dalry Primary School in Dumfries and Galloway who are undertaking research for the American space agency, NASA.

The Pacific Quay complex wants to re-open the tower as soon as possible to help reduce the centre’s deficit, which has already prompted cutbacks including staff job losses.

Lost income from tower admissions is thought to total about 1 million.

However, officials at the centre will want to be absolutely certain that the tower is completely fault-free after a series of embarrassing glitches jinxed the structure since its original opening in 2001.

Previous problems have included faults with the tower’s two glass lifts, which were found to be too heavy. The 600-tonne structure had to be raised by a fraction of an inch to remove its 2ft-diameter spherical thrust bearing, whose failure has been linked to corrosion from water penetration.

A legal dispute over responsibility delayed repairs for months and the attraction was forced to make 15 staff redundant last year because of poor visitor numbers and debts.

The main Glasgow Science Centre had to shut its showpiece exhibition mall for a week just a day after opening in 2001 because of a failure to meet the conditions of its licence.