Eureka! announces its big birthday plan

The birthday party special guests line up, including Peter Smart, Chairman; Leigh-Anne Stradeski, Chief Executive; Dame Vivien Duffield, Founder and Life President; Gillian Thomas OBE, Eureka!’s first Director Dame Vivien Duffield.

During the dinner, the museum’s chief executive LeighAnne Stradeski revealed how they were working with Liverpool City Region on a project to be opened in the Wirral, which is being backed by Merseytravel and Wirral Council.

The project will be updated so that it develops children’s technical and digital skills and helps them “meet the demands of a changing 21st century workforce”.

The £11m project is set to be carried out over the next six years, with plans to open the new museum as early as 2021.

Leigh-Anne Stradeski added: “Eureka! has always had ambitions to extend beyond West Yorkshire and we have actively been looking for sites for development throughout the UK.

“We look forward to the new, larger site contributing to the ongoing regeneration of Halifax town centre while keeping Eureka! as a key tourist destination for the area.

“It will allow us more space to bring in temporary exhibitions, like the recently successful digiPlaySpace, and offer the chance to extend our offer in new directions with more arts and digital attractions.”

On the Merseyside project, she added: “The Wirral site – if it goes ahead – will be funded by grants, donations and partnerships and we have planned it to concentrate on skills-based learning while continuing to use play and discovery as a means of engagement.

“We want to create a thriving children’s community of budding scientists and engineers, actively engaging them to contribute their ideas while learning about real world problems.”