City and province contribute millions for Telus World of Science expansion

EDMONTON – The Telus World of Science is getting a $7 million dollar facelift to make room for travelling exhibitions like Star Wars: Identities, which will be making one of its two North American stops in our city this October.

Work on the 16,000 square foot addition and connecting walkway is already underway, thanks to a $3.5 million contribution from the city, and $3 million from the province. The Edmonton Space and Science Foundation will cover the remaining $500,000 needed.

Mayor Stephen Mandel says the expansion is a reflection of our growing city.

“I think all the facilites in Edmonton are now having to accomodate 100-150,000 more people than they did 10 years ago, so you can’t have the same size facility and expect it to function properly.”

With the science museum’s current size, it took officials four years to get the Body Worlds exhibit here in 2008. Now, in addition to the Star Wars exhibit, the expansion has paved the way for the centre to book two more major exhibits. Body Worlds: The Cycle of Life will open in May 2013, while Indiana Jones and the Adventures of Archaeology will arrive in November 2014.

“The importance of an institution like this speaks to the greatness of this city, of our capital city, that can compete with cities all over this hemisphere and really stand out amongst them,” added Premier Alison Redford.

According to the foundation president, this is just the first phase in what it hopes will be a multi-million dollar expansion.

Here are some renderings of what the newly expanded site will look like:

 With files from Laurel Clark, Global News