A long-running plan to establish a permanent children’s science centre in Northern Virginia has come to fruition.

Not-for-profit organisation the Children’s Science Center will locate the 4,645sq m (50,000sq ft) museum at the Kincora mixed-use development in Dulles, Loudoun County, following a wide search.

The children’s museum will feature 3,066sq m (33,000sq ft) of interactive exhibits and active visitor space, and is expected to attract more than 300,000 visitors annually. It will focus on enhancing children’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills. The Children’s Science Center says more than 50 per cent of new jobs in the Northern Virginia region in the next decade will require such skills.

Kincora’s developers, a partnership between Norton Scott and Tritec Real Estate, will donate the land, although the Children’s Science Center says it expects to make a total investment in Loudoun of about US$40m (€28.7m, £23.6m).

The museum is scheduled to open in 2019, but the Children’s Science Center also revealed plans for a 501.7sq m (5,400sq ft) temporary location at Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, which will open within the next year.