HLF awards £15.9m for museum redevelopments
Projects include new first world war galleries at IWM
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced £15.9m of funding for the major redevelopment of four museums as well as £17m of initial support for four additional projects.
It has also confirmed a grant of £2.5m for Castle Drogo in Exeter to enable vital repairs to be made and help bring the castle back into use as a flexible community space.
The four museum redevelopments include £4.5m for the first world war centenary project at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) London. This will see the creation of new galleries to mark the centenary, displaying original artefacts such as soldiers’ personal items, letters and diaries as well as weapons, tanks and artworks.
The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London has received a grant of £4.3m to restore galleries housing its collection of European ceramics, furniture and woodwork, sculpture, textiles and fashion dating from 1600 to 1800 back to their original Victorian design.
A further £4.65m has been awarded to London’s Design Museum to enable its move into a new home at the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. And the Tank Museum in Dorset has been awarded £2.5m for a new vehicle conservation centre to display and care for 130 “at risk” vehicles.
Carole Souter, chief executive of the HLF, said: “As the largest source of funding for capital investment in museums and galleries, HLF is ensuring that museums large and small from across the UK continue to attract record numbers by providing people with inspiring and high quality experiences about the key events and developments in our history.”
The HLF has today also awarded initial support for National Museums Scotland’s (NMS) bid for a £4.8m grant to implement the next phase of its £11.85m redevelopment project.
Gordon Rintoul, director of NMS, said: “This grant will enable us to move forward in creating a further eight new galleries, opening up access for everybody to our outstanding national collections of science and European art.”
The three other bids to receive HLF initial support are: Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent (£4.5m); Norton Priory in Cheshire (£3.9m); and Gunnersbury Park Museum in London (£3.8m).
It has also confirmed a grant of £2.5m for Castle Drogo in Exeter to enable vital repairs to be made and help bring the castle back into use as a flexible community space.
The four museum redevelopments include £4.5m for the first world war centenary project at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) London. This will see the creation of new galleries to mark the centenary, displaying original artefacts such as soldiers’ personal items, letters and diaries as well as weapons, tanks and artworks.
The Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London has received a grant of £4.3m to restore galleries housing its collection of European ceramics, furniture and woodwork, sculpture, textiles and fashion dating from 1600 to 1800 back to their original Victorian design.
A further £4.65m has been awarded to London’s Design Museum to enable its move into a new home at the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. And the Tank Museum in Dorset has been awarded £2.5m for a new vehicle conservation centre to display and care for 130 “at risk” vehicles.
Carole Souter, chief executive of the HLF, said: “As the largest source of funding for capital investment in museums and galleries, HLF is ensuring that museums large and small from across the UK continue to attract record numbers by providing people with inspiring and high quality experiences about the key events and developments in our history.”
The HLF has today also awarded initial support for National Museums Scotland’s (NMS) bid for a £4.8m grant to implement the next phase of its £11.85m redevelopment project.
Gordon Rintoul, director of NMS, said: “This grant will enable us to move forward in creating a further eight new galleries, opening up access for everybody to our outstanding national collections of science and European art.”
The three other bids to receive HLF initial support are: Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent (£4.5m); Norton Priory in Cheshire (£3.9m); and Gunnersbury Park Museum in London (£3.8m).