The WaterfrontExpo 2011 official civic reception ...

... the Riverside Museum, 19.00 - 20.30 2 November

The official civic reception for WaterfrontExpo 2011 will take place at the Riverside Museum, Glasgow's new Museum of Transport and Travel opened to the public on 21 June, providing an exciting new home for Glasgow's transport collection and replaces the Museum of Transport previously located at the Kelvin Hall. By mid-August, it had already attracted more than 500,000 visitors.

The Riverside Museum was designed by Zaha Hadid, one of the world's most renowned architects. The £74 million museum is Hadid's first major public commission to open in the UK and was funded by Glasgow City Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Riverside Museum Appeal. Like all of Glasgow's 10 civic museums, entry is free.

The new museum will house collections not normally on display at the Museum of Transport, and for the first time allow the proper interpretation of Glasgow's important maritime history. Visitors can walk down a re-created 1900s street, drive a locomotive and tackle a tenement fire. They'll be able to meet artists and entrepreneurs, dancers and drivers, peace protesters and shipwreck survivors. There will be more than 3,000 exhibits in over 150 interactive displays, massive steam locomotives, to the recreation of a city street during the 1900s. The museum’s cathedral-like structure provides a stunning backdrop to showcase the innovation and ambition of what was the 'Second City of the Empire'

Outside, The Tall Ship Glenlee is moored in front of the museum's dramatic south façade, bringing her together, for the very first time, with the city's unrivalled ship model collection, and creating a dramatic and iconic international destination. The Glenlee is one of only five Clyde-built sailing vessels afloat in the world today and the only one in the UK. The Tall Ship which recently underwent a £1.5m refurbishment also opened to the public on 21 June.

More than 1,200 people have worked on the project, since it was given the initial go-ahead in 2002 and work on-site at the historic Pointhouse Quay, began in 2007. The main contractors, BAM, described the building of the massive, 2,500 tonnes steel roof, without any internal supporting columns, as the most challenging engineering feat in the UK today. An additional 3,000 people worked on the various construction contracts to build the museum and quayside public realm.