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News Release from: Race Cottam Associates | Subject: Renovation of Bassetlaw Museum
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 26 February 2007
Dust lifted on 100 years of Bassetlaw
heritage
Race Cottam Associates appointed as architects for the renovation of Bassetlaw Museum, in Retford.
The dust is being lifted on large slices of Bassetlaw's agricultural heritage, hidden from the public for more than twenty years Bassetlaw Museum, in Retford, is set to undergo a huge transformation thanks to massive grant funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 31 Jan 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Sheffield's Race Cottam Associates have been appointed as architects for the renovation of the museum at Amcott House on Grove Street, a Georgian grade II listed town house with a spacious walled garden.
When completed, the work will uncover significant parts of the museum's collection which have been stored off-site since the 1980s and will give the local community better access to the museum's existing facilities and collections, which include porcelain, glass, art, costume and archaeology.
And the highlight of the renovation project will be a new open-fronted barn-style building which will house the museum's collection of agricultural machinery, inaccessible to the public since the museum opened in 1983.
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An interactive IT facility within the building will enable visitors to select film, photographs and oral history to help tell the stories of local farm workers and craftsmen from Retford, Bassetlaw and their surrounding villages since 1880.
Disabled access to the museum will be improved by a ramp and an electric door to the side entrance and into the walled garden and exterior display areas.
The front entrance will be also re-landscaped with a wrought iron fence to improve the forecourt in keeping with the original layout of the building.
Bassetlaw Museum is famous locally for the Welchman collection, which includes more than 20,000 professionally taken local photographs.
The collection, which was recently digitised, has caused enormous public interest and will be backed up by an accompanying oral history record at the improved museum.
Educational access will be enhanced with a new purpose built room for use by schools and youth groups.
It will act as a dedicated area to house computers for use by the public when researching family and local history projects.
It will also house a video tour of the museum.
Race Cottam architect Tim Robinson said: "This project represents a unique opportunity for the museum to reinvent itself in light of extensive consultation with the public, making it an even more relevant and vital service for the local community".
""The project has provided significant architectural challenges, particularly that we needed to meet the design brief whilst protecting and enhancing the architecture of the original Georgian building and its surroundings, using sympathetic materials and styles.
"Lighting and environmental controls will enable the collections to marry with the Georgian architecture and future flexibility of has been built into the design of the buildings and redisplayed areas to make this landmark museum as sustainable as possible".
Bassetlaw Museum, funded by Bassetlaw District Council, is the only free museum service in the 250 sq mile Bassetlaw District, serving 110,000 Nottinghamshire residents and a lively tourist population.
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