Infrastructure Secretary visits Queensferry Crossing project

Boost to employment with in excess of 1,200 people working on the project.

Scotland’s Infrastructure Secretary Keith Brown has visited the Queensferry Crossing project to view the encouraging progress being made on site.

The Infrastructure Secretary also took the opportunity to meet the workers, whose “hard work and dedication” he praised, as significant milestones have recently been reached on site.

This is even more impressive given the poor weather conditions experienced in the area for much of this year.

Those on site have had to battle against wet and windy weather to ensure that significant work is ongoing over the entire site.

The positive impact of this has been on jobs, with the construction site now employing more than 1,200 workers.

And Mr Brown paid tribute to those who are working hard to make sure this scheme is completed by the end of next year, while also highlighting the employee numbers on site and how these are boosting the Scottish employment figures.

He said: “It’s great credit to the hard work and dedication of the men and women working on the Queensferry Crossing to see the progress they have made since my last visit.

“This is despite the challenging conditions they often face, particularly in the middle of the Forth estuary, even during the summer.

“Work is underway on every front across this vast project and workforce numbers are at a peak.

“Direct employment on this large scale infrastructure project is bringing significant benefits to the Scottish economy with over 1,200 people employed on site and 75% having a home address in Scotland.”

Due to open in 2016, the Queensferry Crossing is a stunning, globally unique bridge that will form the centerpiece of a major upgrade to the important cross-Forth transport corridor in the east of Scotland, which represents a total Scottish government investment of £1.35Bn to £1.4Bn.

The structure, which is 2.7km, will be the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world as well as the largest by some distance to feature cables that cross mid-span.

Innovative in design, it will provide extra strength to allow the towers and the deck to be both slender and elegant.

This year, work on site has seen the first cables installed on the north tower, the south approach viaduct launched into its final position, near-completion of the north viaduct, which will be launched in autumn, and the new B800 bridge over the A90 was opened last month.

The three Queensferry Crossing towers are in excess of 160 metres, which is at least ten metres higher than the Forth Road Bridge height.

Another huge advantage this project provides for the country is to its economy, which Mr Brown explains: “Significant opportunities continue to be created for Scottish businesses through the wider supply chain.

“To date, Scottish firms have been awarded subcontracts and supply orders from the project with a total value of £246M out of a total £549M.”

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