More than 36,000 people attended a hands-on, family-focused construction experience event at Glasgow’s Riverside Museum over the recent weekend, which held its inaugural Advance Construction Experience.
The construction organisation aimed to inspire the next generation of construction professionals, with Scottish actor and professional wrestler Grado and former Rangers star Mark Hateley as special guests.
The free family event brought together the Advance Group of companies and industry partners to showcase the exciting world of construction, engineering and infrastructure through interactive activities, live demonstrations and family entertainment. The event was designed not only as a family day out, but to inspire the next generation and highlight the wide variety of careers available in these sectors.
Thousands of visitors took part in activities throughout the weekend, with the live Construction Demonstration Zone proving particularly popular, as skilled operators and construction teams demonstrated machinery and techniques, including playing ‘Digger Football’ with a giant ball. The event also featured mini digger experiences, a dedicated sand pit, a showcase of vintage machinery, interactive challenges, and family entertainment.
It also offered the chance to meet teams from across the Advance Group, as well as coaches from St Mirren Football Club and Rangers former player Mark Hateley, who took time out of their schedules to man the ‘Beat the Goalie’ challenge!
Advance Construction wanted children and young people to leave the event understanding that the industry offers an enormous range of opportunities, from plant operation, engineering and construction management to surveying, environmental roles, technology and many other career paths.
A spokesperson for Advance Construction said:
“We are completely overwhelmed by the response. To welcome more than 36,000 people over the weekend was beyond anything we could have imagined.
“The whole purpose of the Advance Construction Experience was to open our industry and let families see what construction is about and show the next generation just how fantastic our industry is, encouraging greater awareness of the diverse careers and opportunities available across construction, civil engineering and the wider infrastructure sector. Looking back at the weekend, we think we did exactly that.
“Attracting new talent and developing the next generation of skilled workers remains one of the construction industry’s most important challenges, and we wanted young people to see the machines, meet the people behind them, experience some of it for themselves and hopefully go home thinking, ‘I could do that one day’.
“Seeing thousands of children completely fascinated by the plant and demonstrations was incredible. If this weekend has inspired even a small percentage of them to consider a future career in construction, then we have achieved exactly what we set out to do.”
Advance Construction thanks Riverside Museum for helping make the event possible, together with everyone who volunteered, supported, exhibited and contributed to the weekend.
Special thanks were also given to McGill’s Buses and Glasgow Minibus and Coach Hire for supporting transport arrangements and helping move visitors between the museum and overflow parking facilities during an exceptionally busy weekend.