David Climie has been appointed as project director for the Forth Replacement Crossing project.

Mr Climie, 48, brings over 25 years experience and has extensive expertise in leading major bridge-building projects throughout the world and, having been brought up and educated in Scotland, is returning home to deliver the biggest Scottish infrastructure project for a generation. He even worked on the current Forth Road Bridge as a graduate engineer in the 1980s.

Currently a senior project manager at international engineering giant Bechtel, Mr Climie was previously project manager at Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge and contract manager at Smallman Construction.

He has a strong track record in delivering world class projects and has worked on some of the most ambitious and demanding bridges constructed across the globe in recent years.

He led the teams that successfully delivered the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project in the United States in 2007 and China's Jiangyin suspension bridge in 1999. He also worked on the successful construction of the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong and the Storebaelt Bridge in Denmark.

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Born in London in 1961 and moving to Perth in 1967, David attended Perth Academy and Heriot Watt University, is a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers and currently lives in the south east of England. He will take over from John Howison, who has served as Interim Project Director since 2008, this summer.

Mr Climie said: "I am delighted to accept this opportunity to return to Scotland and deliver such a critical infrastructure project for the economy of Fife, the East Coast and Scotland as a whole.

"It is a hugely exciting project and I look forward to building on John Howison's excellent stewardship and leading Transport Scotland's world-class team who have done such an impressive job bringing the project to its current stage."

Transport Scotland Chief Executive, David Middleton, said: "This is the most significant Scottish transport infrastructure project for a generation and I am therefore very pleased we have managed to attract someone with David's substantial skills and experience to lead it. I would also like to thank John Howison, the outgoing Interim Project Director, who has successfully led the project with a huge amount of skill and vigour through its formative phases.

"We expect this to be a very smooth transition, allowing David to maintain the successful momentum that John has injected into in the ongoing procurement and Parliamentary processes and stay on schedule for completion in 2016."

(GK)