Grand design scaled back to save money
£49m budget cut, but museum plan is still key
Paisley Museum’s overhaul has been scaled back after it failed to attract £10 million for an extensive refurbishment programme.
Renfrewshire Council has been forced to slash £ 7 million from its revamp proposals after the Heritage Lottery Fund rebuffed a funding approach.
Council leader Iain Nicolson revealed the project cost has been reduced to £41 million, but says it is still key to the revitalisation of Paisley High Street.
He said: “Our revised plans for Paisley Museum retain our ambition of an international-class museum for Renfrewshire.
“While we are disappointed the previous application was not a success, the feedback made clear the application was of high quality and had no weaknesses.
“In the end, we were extremely unlucky to miss out in an unusuallycompetitive round of funding at a time where available money was very tight.
“However, the important point is we now have a viable set of refreshed funding plans which can still deliver a project meeting the original aims.
“The museum project is one of several which will help bring new life and footfall into our town centres.
“These will help create a new type of town centre economy and boost local trade, while also capitalising on everything Renfrewshire has to offer and making the area a key destination for heritage tourism.”
The setback means savings of £ 7 million will have to be made from the original projection of £47 million to bring it to fruition.
Councillors will next week be asked to approve a fresh approach to the charity for cash.
The local authority has already set aside £24.1 million for the revamp.
The museum did make the final shortlist for the last round of funding, which saw 23 projects worth up to £235 million competing for just £40 million.
It aims to re-establish links between the area and the iconic Paisley Pattern, triple visitors and enhance the entry for UK City of Culture in 2021.
The plans include an extension to the existing Victorian- era building, creating extra space for internationallysignificant exhibits, including the world’s largest collection of Paisley shawls.
The upgrade is linked to the creation of a £3.7 million publicly-accessible museum store to house items not on display, due to be complete by the end of the year.
Construction is also set to start on a new learning and cultural hub in a vacant high-street unit, creating a modern and accessible facility and allow the town’s lending library to move from its current home next to the museum.
The proposed timeline remains the same, with the museum closing in summer 2018 and reopening in 2022.