Glasgow Titan Crane joins Eiffel Tower with award A celebrated crane which played a pivotal role in the history of Scottish shipbuilding is to join the Eiffel Tower as a world engineering landmark today. The 106-year-old Titan Crane in Clydebank, near Glasgow, was used to fit out some of the biggest ships ever to sail out of the city such as the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and the QE2. It has been a tourist attraction since 2007 but remains an important feat of engineering as the world's first giant electrically-powered cantilever crane, and is now to be designated as an "International Historic Civil and Mechanical Engineering Landmark." Unscathed The award is from the American Society of Civil Engineers Board of Direction and is endorsed by the American Society for Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Previous recipients of the accolade include the Eiffel Tower and the Thames Tunnel. Last year, the Titan, which was built at a cost of £24,600 by Sir William Arrol & Co in 1907, received an Institution of Mechanical Engineers" Engineering Heritage award. In 2007, the Grade A-listed structure was refurbished in a £3 million tourism project and turned into museum about shipbuilding in Clydebank. A lift was also installed to take visitors up to the Titan's 150ft high platform. The crane was responsible for fitting out many ships, including the big Cunard liners, the Navy's battleships and battlecruisers, and alongside Glasgow's shipyards, it was vital to Britain's war efforts, and came through the Clydebank Blitz in March 1941 unscathed. As well as history, the tall tower offers stunning views of Clydebank and Glasgow, the River Clyde and the surrounding countryside.