Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction in

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England.

Location

The site used to be home to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steelworks (also known as Steelos). In 50 AD it was the site of the Templeborough Roman

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

. 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 Event Communications, or Event, is one of Europe's longest-established and largest museum and visitor attraction design firms; it is headquartered in London. History The firm was founded in 1986 by businesswoman Celestine ("Cel") Phelan and des ...

. 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, Mott MacDonald and Buro Happold'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 An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a Industrial furnace, furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundry, foundries for producin ...

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 festival was previously held at Oakwood Technology College. Money raised from the festival is donated to local charities. In 2025 CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival Winter will be held here.

References

External links