Glasgow was the scene of the first turf cut on what will eventually be the largest museum in Britain.

Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Winter, broke new ground leading the ceremony for the £45 million Riverside Museum site, designed by the prize winnning Zaha Hadid.

Funded by Glasgow City Council, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Glasgow Harbour, the building has a radical design and will house around 3,000 objects, ranging from locomotives to Glasgow trams and exact replicas of streets from various stages in the city's history.

The Riverside Museum Appeal, led by Sir Robert Smith, has recently embarked on a public appeal, which hopes to raise £5 million toward the cost of construction, while the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded £18.15 million, one of the biggest ever grants in Scotland.

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The Lord Provost said: "Just days after we won the right to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, we're cutting the turf on what is Britain's biggest and most exciting museum project.

"There is real belief and confidence in Glasgow and I'm delighted to mark the day where we see the birth of what promises to be another landmark we can all be proud of."

The museum's architect, Zaha Hadid, added: "I am delighted that construction on the Museum is starting. It's a moment of excitement and expectation for all of us working on the project, and for the city of Glasgow."

The Riverside Museum will be an integral part of the £1.2 billion Glasgow Harbour development and is being built on a site donated by Glasgow Harbour to Glasgow City Council. It is hoped the iconic building will create a unique tourist destination on the regenerated banks of the Clyde, attracting more than one million visitors a year to the city.

(DW/JM)