Recipient organisationEurekaSource-published name: Eureka! the National Children's Museum
Funding£2.9M
PeriodJun 2020 — Jan 2022
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Eureka! Mersey will turn a disused docklands transport attraction into an £11m children’s science centre where local 8-to-14-year-olds help design the exhibits themselves. The project tackles a stark gap: the Wirral docklands sit among England’s most deprived communities, with no dedicated space where local children can encounter hands-on science. Traditional museums and science centres often feel remote or irrelevant to such areas. Eureka! Mersey aims to change that by making young people co-creators—not just visitors—of immersive, multi-sensory exhibits that reveal the science happening on their own doorsteps. If successful, the centre could act as a regeneration catalyst for a waterfront that has suffered decades of decline. It would create a permanent cultural destination that draws families from across the Liverpool City Region, while building a local “community of creative scientists and engineers” who contribute to real-world practice. The project is not fundamental research; it is a public engagement and regeneration initiative. Its impact will be measured in economic revival, educational aspiration, and whether children from underserved communities begin to see science and engineering as something they can shape, not just consume.
View original technical description
We imagine a bright, colourful facility with spaces that are immersive, contextualised, hands-on multi-sensory, inclusive and intuitive; designed through an equal two-way exchange between Eureka! and our community stakeholders, engaging young people aged 8-14 as co-creators of their own experiences - stimulating them to discover the science happening on their doorsteps. Eureka! Mersey will be a new magnet visitor destination for families, located in the heart of the Liverpool City Region; reinventing the existing SPACEPORT attraction at Seacombe ferry terminal in Wirral. The development will act as a powerful catalyst for regeneration of a docklands area which has suffered decline for many years, with levels of multiple deprivation1 among the highest in England. Built with Eureka!’s DNA throughout (see section 4), Eureka! Mersey will be neither a traditional children’s museum, nor a traditional science centre. It will break the mould, forging its unique identity through the stakeholder consultation process. The project will be delivered by a consortium of partners; primarily Eureka! and Merseytravel, with locality partner Wirral Council, and Liverpool City Region LEP - drawing on expert contributions from a network of partners - and hand in hand with schools, local children and young people, families and community groups. The result will be a brand new £11m cultural destination contributing to the regeneration of the historic waterfront, investing in some of the most underserved communities in the UK, and creating a children’s community of creative scientists and engineers, actively engaged and contributing to real world practice. 1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of- deprivation-2015
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