Pupils from Edinburgh’s Tollcross Primary school today buried a time capsule at the building site of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) expansion and associated office development.
The school’s time capsule project has involved pupils imagining the world in 2061, when the solid lead time capsule will be re-opened, and what they think will be important to school pupils at that time.
The school worked closely with Sir Robert McAlpine, the principal contractor for the EICC development, as part of a community engagement programme.
The list of objects chosen for time travel includes technology that is sure to age interestingly (an Apple iPod and Quicktime movie called "Message to our Future Selves"), ideas (‘What I want to be when I grow up’, predictions for the year 2061, and a list of favourite toys in 2011), and artwork in the form of a 2011-2061 Scrapbook.
There are also mementoes from the pupils' school and the Tollcross area: photographs, a school sweatshirt, a choir music CD, and information on the Jacobite Assembly.
Given the school's historic ties with the Usher Hall appropriately there is also a copy of the recently released Edinburgh International Festival 2011 programme.
The time capsule inscription reads: “This time capsule was placed by Tollcross Primary School Bunsgoil Crois na Cìse in 2011 to be opened in 2061”.
It will be buried under the foyer of the new EICC expansion space and will be marked with a plaque on the wall of the new development.
The EICC expansion space will feature a 1,600 sq m multi-purpose hall with a moving floor system, and over 180,000 sq ft of office accommodation.
EICC Chief Executive, Hans H Rissmann said: "Good neighbours surround us at EICC, those who live here and many more who come to work in businesses both large and small. We are delighted that these young people who go to the local school have made us part of their term’s work and that they will make their own unique contribution to the international events space that is rapidly taking shape on their doorstep."
The EICC is a company with a single shareholder, The City of Edinburgh Council. The EICC office expansion is currently the only speculative city centre office building outside of London and the South East, currently employing 110 people on site and expected to provide employment for 250 at its peak in early 2012.