Museums granted £60 million for upgrades and improvements

Twenty large museums and organisations have been granted a total of £60 million by the government to support projects and maintenance delayed by the pandemic.

The £60 million of funding is aimed at helping projects that were stalled due to the Covid-19 pandemic reach completion to allow institutions to welcome back visitors this summer.

Most of the funding is to be spent on capital projects for upgrading the buildings and improving conservation works – such as £2.7 for the British Museum to spend on the fabric and roofs of galleries, and £4.6 million to be spent restoring the Natural History Museum’s original Waterhouse Wing, home to the Human Biology Galleries.

British Museum – August 2020

More than £1 million will help the V&A in London preserve the terracotta facade of the garden courtyard building, while £2.2 million is being granted to the Royal Parks to spend on maintaining footpaths, create nature habitats, protect parkland and landscapes, and repair boundary walls and bridges.

Apart from restoration works, much of the funding is also aimed at upgrades to old equipment that is in need of replacing and taking the opportunity to replace it with more energy-efficient designs.

Some of the funding will also be spent on improving accessibility to museums, such as improved toilets and lifts.

Recipients inside London

• British Film Institute – £1,075,000
• British Library – £1,301,249
• British Museum – £9,800,000
• Historic Royal Palaces – £3,560,000
• Horniman Museum and Gardens – £510,000
• Imperial War Museums – £3,850,000
• Museum of the Home – £175,000
• Natural History Museum – £7,605,000
• National Gallery – £437,000
• National Portrait Gallery – £2,968,810
• Royal Parks – £2,255,000
• Royal Museums Greenwich – £1,775,000
• Sir John Soane Museum – £242,000
• Wallace Collection – £575,000

Recipients inside London with regional outposts

• Science Museum Group – £6,171,000
• TATE – £5,042,000
• V&A – £5,788,000

Recipients outside London

• National Museums Liverpool – £3,800,000
• National Museums Liverpool – £3,800,000
• Royal Armouries – £1,138,000