World Heritage Bid for Bridge

A bid will be made for the Forth Bridge to gain UNESCO World Heritage Site status, after the Bridge topped a Tentative List of 11 UK nominations. If the bid is successful, the rail bridge will become Scotland’s sixth World Heritage Site — a great boost for Fife in terms of prestige and tourism.

I believe this recognition has been a long time coming. The Forth Bridge is famous around the world as an icon of Scotland and of pioneering Scottish engineering. We should never forget that it was designed and built without the benefit of computer-aided design and manufacturing, or so many of the methods we now take for granted.

The accolade would be a tribute to all the skilled and dedicated people who have worked on the Bridge over its 130-year history, particularly to the 73 men who died building it, for whom the First Minister Alex Salmond recently unveiled two bronze memorial monuments.

The Forth Bridges Forum will now prepare the bid, which will be submitted to UNESCO in 2014. We can look forward to the announcement in 2015 as to whether World Heritage Site status will be granted.

Whatever happens, our magnificent Forth Bridge will stand as a proud monument for many more years to come.

The above was originally written for Bill’s Dunfermline Press column. This version may vary slightly.