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207 metres above high tide (683ft) and 50 metres (25%) higher than the existing Forth Road Bridge.


150,000 tonnes of concrete poured – nearly the same amount used for the entire London Olympic Park and Athletes Village.


The steel required for the bridge deck weighs a total of 35,000 tonnes - the equivalent of nearly 200 Boeing 747s.


23,000 miles of cabling used. Laid out, this would very nearly stretch around the entire planet.


Approximately 10 million man hours to construct.


Third bridge over the Forth spans 50 years of Heriot-Watt engineering excellence


We have been reliably informed that the world of major infrastructure, despite its hundreds of thousands of tonnes of concrete and steel, is a pretty small one. And the construction of the new Queensferry Crossing, the third bridge over the River Forth, is no exception. But what is perhaps exceptional is the number of Heriot-Watt University graduates involved in the project – at least 15 at this moment in time. Ten per cent of one class alone are involved in the project – the class of 1983. The very same class that produced the project director, David Climie.


It’s a rather cloudy and windy September day on the banks of the Forth when we meet David in North Queensferry, the village that spills down the rocks to the shore in the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge. The third bridge over the river – after the rail bridge, completed in 1890, and the first Forth Road Bridge, which opened in 1964 – is due to open in May 2017.


David has been involved with the project since April 2010. His engineering education at Heriot-Watt saw him travel the world to work on some incredible projects before returning to his homeland of Scotland – arguably also the home of engineering, with Scots-born pioneers including James Watt, Thomas Telford and William Arrol – to direct the new Forth Crossing project for Transport Scotland.


He credits his Heriot-Watt University degree with giving his career the best start possible: “I always knew I wanted


Heriot-Watt University www.alumni.hw.ac.uk


to be a civil engineer, but you have to have the technical background to be able to fulfil that ambition. I looked at all the universities in Scotland and Heriot-Watt was the one that had the best reputation for the course and it seems to have delivered on that.”


Although there is one challenge he faces on his current project for which even a Heriot-Watt University engineering degree isn’t a match... that infamous Scottish weather:


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