An Abertay project that will open the doors on the redevelopment of Dundee railway station has been awarded almost £30,000.
The feat that will see Dundee’s railway station transformed into a building worthy of the 21st Century is to be the focus of a new £27,361 project.
“On the Right Track: Engineering and Education For All” is one of only 22 projects in the UK selected to receive funding from The Royal Academy of Engineering’s public engagement grant scheme, Ingenious.
Using a mix of public events, vidoes and blogs, the scheme seeks to engage the public with engineering both to promote careers and to give a wider understanding of the challenges in building structures like those of Dundee’s waterfront.
Abertay’s project will do this by giving people a behind-the-scenes look at the site as it is remodelled and upgraded over the next two years.
It will bring engineers from research, industry and academe together with school children, teachers and the community, giving them the chance to see the incredible skill that goes into engineering such a complex build.
The new station building has been designed by architects at Nicoll Russell Studios, and the redevelopment of the railway station as a whole is being led by Fergus Wilson Dundee City Council’s chief engineer.
Dr Patsy Dello-Sterpaio, outreach and public engagement network and STEM coordinator at Abertay, who will lead the university’s public engagement project, said: “The redevelopment of Dundee’s Waterfront and the railway station in particular is truly a feat of engineering ingenuity, but we don’t always appreciate all the work that goes into something like this, because often the only interaction we have with it is through the disruption it causes to our lives with the roadworks, the noise and the dust.
“But it requires a huge amount of skill to design a project like this and to put it into action.
“The railway station redevelopment is a real, live example of science and technology in action, and there’s so much amazing activity happening right here on our doorstep every day that it should make for a really exciting learning backdrop for everyone involved.”
Dr Cornelia Doerich-Stavridis, chartered civil engineer and lecturer in civil engineering at Abertay, said: “There have already been a number of major challenges for them to overcome and a number of achievements, and there will be many more of these as the project progresses.”