THE Queensferry Crossing has been named as the engineering 'Project of the Decade – while its director was made an OBE.

The £1.35 billion structure, which opened last August, was recognised at the Ground Engineering Awards in London last week in a category marking the ceremony's 10th anniversary.

Spanning 1.7 miles, the new crossing – construction on which began in 2011 – is the longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge in the world, and is the tallest bridge in the UK.

It was officially opened by the Queen 53 years to the day from when she opened the Forth Road Bridge in 1964 and, following its success, director David Climie received an OBE in the Queen's birthday honours list for services to engineering.

On the project's GE award, economy secretary Keith Brown said: "This award is recognition for the dedication and professionalism of the men and women who worked on this project.

"The success of this project was quite literally built on the foundations of the initial land and marine investigations. These paved the way for the marine foundations for the bridge which were a highly complex and critical aspect of the whole construction process.

"The south and north tower foundations in particular were record-breaking and a truly world-class feat of civil engineering in challenging conditions deep underneath the waters of the Forth."