IT is hard to believe that it is now more than five years since Glasgow hosted the Commonwealth Games. That was an incredibly exciting time for many of us, including the science centre, where we had official status as a festival site.

Throughout the global sporting event, Glasgow Science Centre, the IMAX and Glasgow Tower stood out as modern icons on the city’s skyline. Since we opened in 2001, it is my view that the outline of these buildings has come to symbolise a modern, confident Glasgow that is continuously changing.

I am excited for what the future holds for Pacific Quay, as the area south of the River Clyde embarks on a new phase of regeneration.

Our area will soon welcome a new distillery as a neighbour, with Scottish Enterprise working with a tenant to develop the site for whisky production. The planning application also includes details for offices, bars, restaurants and cafes.

It was also reported last month that a space next to STV is being earmarked by Holiday Inn to build a new seven storey hotel, complete with a top-floor skybar. It is little wonder that Scottish Enterprise has come to recognise “Pacific Quay’s appeal as an attractive business location”.

As we look to the future, I have also been encouraging the team here at Glasgow Science Centre to consider our short but extensive history where our visitor attraction was the first to pitch up at Pacific Quay in 2001 – on the site of the Glasgow Garden Festival.

An estimated three million visitors descended on the festival in 1988 and the Bell’s Bridge, the first bridge to be built across the river in 120 years, is one of few remaining structures from the event. I have not met many Glaswegians who did not visit at least once!

Now, Glasgow Science Centre is part of a community of innovators at Pacific Quay, including STV and BBC Scotland, who launched a new digital television channel earlier in the year.

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We are also playing our part in redeveloping the area. Our £4.2million Connect project will see us transform the outdoor spaces around Pacific Quay to create learning spaces, filled with exciting hands-on exhibits, seating and sculptures along our portion of the south bank of the River Clyde. It will be the biggest transformation to take place in our 19-year history.

Our aim is to take the fun of Glasgow Science Centre outdoors and build a free-to-access outdoor space for play, discovery and social interaction.

On the inside, we will be introducing new exhibits, a community learning hub on the ground floor and a Changing Places toilet. We will also be spending more time out in local communities to develop an understanding of their needs.

It will be an important part of our mission to break down the barriers, real and perceived, to engaging with science. There are still large sections of society who think “science is not for people

like us”.

Science is for everyone. It can empower and enrich each and every one of us, and any section of society that feels excluded from science, for whatever reason, is at risk of being marginalized and unable to access the many opportunities that science and technology creates.

We want Glasgow Science Centre to be for all of Scotland and for our audience to reflect the richness and diversity of the great communities that we aim to serve.

Glasgow and Pacific Quay has a proud past and I want Glasgow Science Centre to help shape our city’s future.

Stephen Breslin is the CEO of the Glasgow Science Centre.