The Bristol Museums Development Trust (BMDT) has received £560,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) towards unforeseen costs for Bristol’s new social history museum, M Shed.
These costs include the removal and disposal of contaminated waste on the site, which was worse than the council had expected, and extensive repair works to the building, a 1950s harbourside transit shed.
The funding is part of a £1.39m HLF grant, awarded last month, which will also go towards the museum’s £27m build cost. The trust needs to raise a further £1.3m before the museum opens on 17 June. Bristol City Council has underwritten the project and will meet any shortfall.
Adrian Tinniswood, the chairman of the trust, said of the HLF funding: “This is a psychological boost. I honestly don’t see a possibility now of us not finding it [the remaining funding].
“There are tentative pledges in already, there is a public appeal and there are naming rights for the galleries.”
The unforeseen costs are the latest in a series of setbacks that have included wrangles over the design of the museum, costs increasing from £22m to £27m, and the opening date pushed back from late 2009 to spring 2011.
The grant brings the total HLF contribution to £11.65m, while Bristol City Council has pledged £12.82m. Cadbury has donated £20,000, with others pledging money including Rolls-Royce, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and South West Screen.
The council has also accepted a donation of £250,000 from Imperial Tobacco, seemingly at odds with its pledge to support promotional and educational campaigns to discourage smoking.
Tinniswood said: “It is problematic, and came before the trust was set up, but I’m not sure I would turn the money away.
“I wouldn’t call it dirty money. One wants to see the museum open.”
M Shed will feature 1,800sq m of exhibition space, including three permanent galleries and a rooftop temporary-exhibition space. It will also host a cafe, learning studio, shop, conservation workshops and public spaces for live performance.
These costs include the removal and disposal of contaminated waste on the site, which was worse than the council had expected, and extensive repair works to the building, a 1950s harbourside transit shed.
The funding is part of a £1.39m HLF grant, awarded last month, which will also go towards the museum’s £27m build cost. The trust needs to raise a further £1.3m before the museum opens on 17 June. Bristol City Council has underwritten the project and will meet any shortfall.
Adrian Tinniswood, the chairman of the trust, said of the HLF funding: “This is a psychological boost. I honestly don’t see a possibility now of us not finding it [the remaining funding].
“There are tentative pledges in already, there is a public appeal and there are naming rights for the galleries.”
The unforeseen costs are the latest in a series of setbacks that have included wrangles over the design of the museum, costs increasing from £22m to £27m, and the opening date pushed back from late 2009 to spring 2011.
The grant brings the total HLF contribution to £11.65m, while Bristol City Council has pledged £12.82m. Cadbury has donated £20,000, with others pledging money including Rolls-Royce, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and South West Screen.
The council has also accepted a donation of £250,000 from Imperial Tobacco, seemingly at odds with its pledge to support promotional and educational campaigns to discourage smoking.
Tinniswood said: “It is problematic, and came before the trust was set up, but I’m not sure I would turn the money away.
“I wouldn’t call it dirty money. One wants to see the museum open.”
M Shed will feature 1,800sq m of exhibition space, including three permanent galleries and a rooftop temporary-exhibition space. It will also host a cafe, learning studio, shop, conservation workshops and public spaces for live performance.
