Weston Park Museum, Sheffield

Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Weston Park Museum
Client 
Sheffield Galleries & Museums Trust
Awards 
Civic Trust Award (Commended) 2008
Awards 
Museums & Heritage Award for Excellence 2007
Awards 
Gulbenkian Prize for Museums & Galleries (Finalist) 2007
Awards 
Institution of Civil Engineers Award (Highly Commended) 2008
Awards 
RICS Pro-Yorkshire Award for Tourism & Leisure (Shortlisted) 2007

By the late 1990s, Weston Park was in serious decline with tired interiors and leaking roofs. The practice undertook a complex programme of renewal to create a modern museum from the existing buildings. Key challenges were to improve the poor circulation and inefficient use of space. The £17.3m, two-year redevelopment included a renovation of the Victorian buildings, the demolition of an unsightly 1960s extension, and the creation of a dramatic fifty-metre long concourse to link the Victorian and 1930s wings. The interiors were refurbished to provide bright, contemporary display spaces. The practice also helped to prepare a successful Stage II Heritage Lottery funding bid, turning a scheme with potential for HLF funding into a viable project that rapidly gained listed building consent. The new Museum has become a popular attraction, exceeding its predicted annual total of visitors within two months of reopening.