Ground has been broken on a new US$5m (€4.36m, £3.81m) science centre in Charleston, West Virginia.

Set to open in Q3 later this year, the T-Rex Science Center will be located on the site of an old bakery. It conception was inspired by the discovery of director Scott Breeden of a 400-million-year-old fossilised tree in the area during the autumn of 2018. Breeden took the piece of prehistoric wood to Ray Garton, curator of the West Virginia Geological Survey, and the idea grew from there.

While ground has broken, an estimated US$5m (€4.36m, £3.81m) is needed to complete the building improvements necessary at the old bakery to turn it into the envisaged world-class exhibition and learning space where visitors can “do” science, not just “view” it.

When the centre opens, the plan is for the building to house a prehistoric walk, at least 18 full-size dinosaur replicas, active and interactive science space for students and scientists, an arcade, a theatre with seats for more than 400 people, and hundreds of fossils currently housed elsewhere.

Speaking to local media at the groundbreaking ceremony, Breeden said: “We’re bound and determined to make it happen for Charleston. Children that possibly would never get the chance to visit the Smithsonian are now going to see those types of exhibits right here.”