Birmingham Post

Tiny museum of fossils takes on Tate Modern

- Tamlyn Jones Business Correspond­ent

A TINY Birmingham museum is taking on the Tate Modern in London for the £100,000 Museum of the Year prize.

The Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham is one of five contenders for the title of Art Fund Museum of the Year.

The attraction contains the region’s finest collection of fossils, volcanic rocks, and dinosaur bones and has been in the Aston Webb Building at the University’s Edgbaston campus for almost a century.

Birmingham-based Associated Architects carried out a major renovation of the museum in 2015, which improved the collection’s accessibil­ity using new methods of display and provided dedicated facilities for school and community groups.

The Aston Webb Building is Grade II* listed and the challenge of sensitivel­y improving public accessibil­ity to the museum, while preserving its architectu­re, was a key aspect the works and a primary focus for Heritage Lottery Funding.

The Lapworth had just 20,000 visitors a year before its redevelopm­ent and now welcomes 50,000. Tate Modern, meanwhile, welcomes more than five million visitors each year.

The other three contenders on the shortlist are the Hepworth Wakefield; Sir John Soane’s Museum, London; and The National Heritage Centre for Horseracin­g and Sporting Art in Newmarket.

Richard Perry, Director at Associated Architects, said: “It has been a fantastica­lly rewarding project to be involved with.

“A shared vision with the University and wider team has been key to its success, blending contempora­ry design with a historical­ly sensitive listed building to create a museum fit for the future. What’s not to love about being greeted by an enormous Allosaurus skeleton as you enter a museum?”

The winning museum will receive £100,000, while the other shortliste­d museums will receive £10,000 each.

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The Lapworth Museum at the University of Birmingham curates a host of rare fossils, dinosaur bones and geological specimens
> The Lapworth Museum at the University of Birmingham curates a host of rare fossils, dinosaur bones and geological specimens

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