The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester has published CGI visualisations and details of how Power Hall: The Law Family Gallery will look when it reopens later this year.
The Grade II listed building, which in 1830 was the Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, closed in 2019 for urgent roof and timber repairs, building conservation and a major decarbonisation project.
The Science Museum Group, which runs the site, has worked with architect and lead designer Carmody Groake to reimagine and improve the Power Hall experience and conserve the building’s history, and with Studio MUTT to create interpretation of the industrial heritage collection through the exhibition design.
Presented as a working gallery full of engines and rail vehicles, and providing a sensory experience of Manchester’s past and present industry, the Power Hall will explore the factors that sparked a transport revolution through three key themes.
The first, Making More, will explore how steam engines helped factory and mill owners boost their productivity and profits from the 1800s onwards – at a considerable cost to people and the environment. The second theme, Powering Lines, will examine how engines power our electricity network today while the third theme, Connecting Places, will take a closer look at how people used locomotives to connect communities around the world.
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“Power Hall: The Law Family Gallery will be a must-see Manchester experience - a living gallery that showcases a unique collection of historic 19th and early 20th century working engines to tell the story of Manchester as an epicentre for the engine-driven ideas and industry that shaped the world as we know it today,” said Kate Chatfield, the interpretation and content manager at the Science and Industry Museum.
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“Our most iconic objects will be available to explore like never before as we bring to life the people behind the power through stories of the engineers, makers and technicians who use their skills and senses to create and care for engines, both today and in the past.”
The project received a £6m grant from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and £3m from The Law Family Charitable Foundation, the museum's largest philanthropic gift to date.