Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction, appealing primarily to children, located in Rotherham's former Templeborough steelworks.

Location

The site used to be home to the

Steel, Peech and Tozer Steel, Peech and Tozer was a large steel maker with works situated at Ickles and Templeborough, in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. History An area of land, almost a crescent shape through Masbrough and Ickles, on the edge of Rotherham to ...

steel works (also known as Steelos). In 50 AD it was the site of the Templeborough Roman fort. The principal exhibits are divided into four ''pavilions'': Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. There is also an outdoor Sci-Tek play area, and Aqua-Tek water play area. The 1/3 mile long site is often used for staging events, conferences and performances. It won the Enjoy England Gold Award for Business Tourism in 2006.

Development

The development, funding and building process was led by Stephen Feber, who selected the design team, led by architects WilkinsonEyre and exhibition designers Event Communications. Tim Caulton directed exhibition development. Magna's exhibitions won the Best Exhibition category at the 2002 Design Week Awards. The Centre won the 2001 RIBA Stirling Prize for its architects

Wilkinson Eyre Architects WilkinsonEyre is an international architecture practice based in London, England. In 1983 Chris Wilkinson founded Chris Wilkinson Architects, he partnered with Jim Eyre in 1987 and the practice was renamed WilkinsonEyre in 1999. The practice ha ...

, Mott MacDonald and

Buro Happold Buro Happold (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the environment ...

's use of space in the old steelworks.

''The Big Melt''

Every hour, Magna holds a display called "The Big Melt". Its purpose is to demonstrate how steel was made in an electric arc furnace until the steelworks closed in 1993. A furnace is imitated with fog, spark, flame and smoke machines, loudspeakers, lights, and blasts of rapidly burning propane which are ignited at appropriate points in the show. The show can be repeated up to four times an hour, but, in practice, it is usually run once an hour or twice an hour if visitor numbers are very high.

Real Ale Festival

Since 2011 the centre has been home to the annual

Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival The Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival (formerly the Oakwood Real Ale and Music Festival) is an annual real ale festival that takes place in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The event takes place annually at the Magna Centre, Rotherham a former ...

. The festival was previously held at

Oakwood Technology College Oakwood High School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which in 2022 had 1,052 students. History Oakwood began life as two separate single-sex 11–18 secondary technical schools. O ...

. Money raised from the festival is donated to local charities.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Rotherham Tourist attractions in Rotherham Science centres in England Museums in South Yorkshire Industry museums in England