Museums and heritage

King George's Hall in Blackburn will undergo an £8m renovation, it has been announced.

The Lancashire Telegraph reports that the money will come from a Levelling-Up grant of £20m to Blackburn with Darwen Council from the government, with the work concentrating on the interior of the building.

The remainder of the new money will go on refurbishment of nearby Tony’s Ballroom, the redevelopment of Blackburn's historic town centre The Exchange building, and transforming the Imperial Mill for employment and cultural use .

Blackburn with Darwen Council Leader Phil Riley said: "The announcement comes after months of hard work between council and government officials, who have together developed a strong investment package to support town centre growth priorities.

"At the heart of the bid is an impressive £8m to renovate the ever-popular King George’s Hall - a key element of Blackburn’s new £50m Cultural Quarter.

"There’ll also be new investment for the likes of Tony’s Ballroom, The Exchange and Imperial Mill.

"I am delighted with the money for King George's Hall which is an vital part of the cultural, artistic and leisure life of the borough and wider area."

Chiswick House & Gardens Trust (CHGT) has unveiled plans to create a new learning hub with facilities to support 200 volunteers and artists’ studios.

The project aims to address the charity’s long-term viability and will also work with local residents to turn an unused outdoor space into a fruit garden.

CHGT said creating its new "campus”, Cedar Yards, will support the growth and accessibility of its volunteering and community activity. The addition of affordable workspaces for up to 100 artists and makers will also offer a new source of income for the trust.

So far, a third of the project cost has been raised, underpinned by funding from London Borough of Hounslow through Strategic Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) grants and funds from the Thriving Communities and Creative Enterprise Zone Grants. The rest of the funds are being raised from charitable and private sources.

Xanthe Arvanitakis, Director of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, said: “This ambitious project has been designed to directly impact the wellbeing of our local community as well as enhancing cultural and creative enterprise activity in London Borough of Hounslow.

"By creating more public green spaces for local people, we can expand our learning and community programme, which is currently running at capacity. With the introduction of affordable workspaces for artists and makers, we will foster a local creative economy and generate much-needed new income for the trust.”

Emergency roof repairs were carried out across four galleries at the British Museum last week following an "endless series of leaks", according to a report in Arts Newspaper.

The action was taken in galleries containing Greek, Cypriot and Japanese artworks, where buckets were being used to catch drips and extra heaters to reduce humidity levels.

In a speech last year, museum Chair George Osborne acknowledged issues with the museum's fabric: "For decades, it has been patched up in a piecemeal way and by closing galleries when the rain comes in."

Plans to upgrade the entire building, starting with galleries on the ground floor, are in place. However, progress was impacted by the resignation of director Hartwig Fischer following the revelation last year that over 2,000 artefacts had been lost, stolen or damaged over a 19-year period.

Last December, the British Museum signed a 10-year partnership with oil giant BP to fund a significant redevelopment of its Bloomsbury premises in a move that environmental groups have heavily criticised.

The museum said the £50m from BP will help it deliver its master plan and ensure millions of visitors can "continue to access the collection for generations to come".

In a statement to Arts Newspaper, a museum spokesperson said: "We have been open about the fact it is in need of full-scale renovation." They added that the museum's master plan represents "one of the most significant cultural redevelopment projects undertaken anywhere in the world."

A £4.7m extension to Nuneaton Museum has been paused after a council review of capital projects said the expenditure in the 2019-2020 business plan had not accounted for soaring interest rates and costs.

As a result, the project to add a double glass extension on either side of the building has been put on hold indefinitely.

However, the museum will still get a new lift and a steel bridge over the River Anker to improve access for visitors.

The British Museum deactivated the responses on a social media post after being flooded with comments from Chileans demanding that the institution return two moai statues from Easter Island.

Comments of "return the moai" began to inundate the museum's social channels after Chilean social media influencer Mike Milfort, who has 7.5m followers on TikTok, encouraged his fans to spam the museum’s Instagram page.

The statues, which date from between 1400 and 1650 AD, were taken from the Chilean territory of Rapa Nui. They were given as gifts to Queen Victoria in 1869 by Commodore Richard Powell before being endowed to the British Museum.

The British Museum said it only deactivated comments on one post, shared in collaboration with a youth charity, as it welcomed debate but felt it had to be "balanced against the need for safeguarding considerations, especially where young people are concerned".

The museum added that it has "good and open relations" with colleagues in Rapa Nui, and there have been several visits from the community to London since 2018.

The moai campaign is the latest repatriation debate to hit the British Museum. In December, Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said Greece would not recognise the British Museum’s ownership of the Parthenon marbles, stating they “were stolen by [Lord] Elgin, abused, vandalised and sawed up to be in England”.

Medoni also said Greece “cannot accept either ownership, or possession, or jurisdiction [over the marbles] from the British Museum”.

Last week, the government confirmed that a law that would have allowed the restitution of artefacts on moral grounds would not apply to national museums and galleries.
 

The National Coal Mining Museum has proposed using geothermal heat to help it decarbonise.

The museum pumps an average of 1.5m gallons of water out of Hope Pit daily, which could be used as an alternative energy source. The scheme, which would cost an estimated £2m, could also heat nearby homes,    

Mine Director Shaun McLoughlin told the BBC: "Here at the National Coal Mining Museum, we've realised the potential of the heat from mine water, so we are currently in consultation with Kirklees and Wakefield Council to harness this potential.

"There is enough energy at this mine to provide the heat to heat the houses in Overton, Newhall Prison and decarbonise the whole museum."

McLoughlin added that a scheme could also offer a "great visitor experience for people to see the science and technology at work".

Ipswich Borough Council (IBC) has voted to continue supporting the redevelopment of Ipswich Museum after a £2.7m overspend.

The museum closed in October 2022 for renovations and expansion, initially budgeted at £8.7m, half of which was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).

Now with an estimated cost of £11.4m, after rising inflation and supply chain issues, IBC voted on 6 February to ensure the project is delivered in full, unanimously deciding to apply for a second round of funding from the NLHF.

According to a council report, NLHF has indicated that it will consider an additional funding application if the council provides match funding.  

At a committee meeting, the council was warned that, if rejected, the project could be subject to a complete review, halting it for at least 18 more months.

"It's really hard to see what other option we have because we are so far down this road now," said Conservative councillor Ian Fisher.

"If we don't vote for it, we get something that's not going to be anywhere near what we wanted."

Labour councillor Carole Jones, portfolio holder for planning and museums, said: "There are improvements that we need to make, and this is not an extravagant scheme.

"We are where we are, and we can only go forward."