A SHOWCASE of modern North-East engineering is to be the centrepiece of a new partnership launched.

The ‘Great Exhibition of the Tees Valley’ will be held in 2025 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Stockton to Darlington Railway, with a pilot version to take place in 2020.

Echoing the renowned ‘Great Exhibition’ of the Victorian era, it will be a celebration of the world leading science, technology and engineering that exists in the Tees Valley in the 21st century.

The event will be created by ‘Engineering Together - The North East Community of Professional Engineers’, a partnership of 14 Professional Engineering Institutions and other parties.

The partnership has the objective of raising the profile of engineering with the public, young people, politicians and the media.

It hopes to shine a light on engineering as a multi-disciplined profession and show how it is a vital part to most aspects of modern society.

The group was launched at an event at Ormsby Hall, in Middlesbrough, hosted by The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) who were responsible for the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace in London.

Bowman Bradley, chair of the North East Branch of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said it was important to highlight the significance of modern engineering.

He said: “Engineering has been the lifeblood of Tees Valley and the North East of England for generations.

"It is still a vital part of our local economy, employing very large numbers of people, facts which are often not recognised, here and wider afield.

"I am delighted that our North-East Branch is part of this initiative and its ambitious plans.”

The initiative builds on other successful ventures to promote engineering in the North-East such as the ‘Great North Engineering Experience’, which drew 34,000 visitors during the Great Exhibition of the North in 2018, and ‘Bring it On, The North East Exhibition for Future Engineers' - now in its third year.