 Refurbishment Plans FAQs
'A Future For Your Past' - Wrexham County Borough Museum Refurbishment Project Frequently Asked Questions.
What are the Museum's Aims and Objectives?
The overall Vision for the Museum is: -
‘Wrexham County Borough Museum will be a place that welcomes and has meaning for the whole community and inspires visitors to explore the cultural heritage of the County Borough and its role in the development of Wales and the wider world.’
The complementary Mission Statement is: -
‘Wrexham County Borough Museum will be a centre of excellence (actual and virtual) for increasing public knowledge and understanding about the heritage of our community and an inspiration for people to actively engage with their heritage’.
To achieve this, the Museum will: -
- Identify, collect and conserve material evidence that relates to the cultural heritage of Wrexham County Borough and maintain those collections in line with national standards.
- Ensure that our own, and more geographically remote collections, are made accessible to the whole community through a variety of means (for example, through exhibitions and e-technology).
- Increase public awareness and understanding of Wrexham County Borough’s cultural heritage and its role in the development of Wales and the wider world (for example, through a range of interpretative and educational programmes and promotional activities).
- Provide facilities and services to standards that ensure a high quality visitor experience.
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What have we learnt from our visitors and talking to people who have not used the Museum?
To help us plan for the future, we have been asking people for their views about the museum as it is now, and how they would like to see it change. We have consulted with people who have not used the museum, as well as those who already visit. They have told us that: -
- Many people are unaware of the Museum, its location, or the range of services that it can offer. For some people, the Museum is considered remote or irrelevant - ‘not for us’.
- The museum has static, unchanging displays that do not fully reflect the heritage of our community. There is a need for the museum to show more of our heritage collections and be more dynamic and interactive.
- Schools value the education programmes but would like better teaching facilities at the museum and exhibitions with associated resource materials that can be used to support the Curriculum Cymreig.
- There is strong local community support for the conservation of our heritage but traditional non-users of the Museum consider heritage (including their own) to be irrelevant and often never engage with heritage.
Based on these findings, in order to develop audiences for the museum and encourage more people to engage with their heritage, the Museum Audience Development Plan (2007) recommends that the Museum needs to: -
- Raise awareness and the public profile of the Museum and what it has to offer visitors (in particular people who are not traditional museum users)
- Create an environment in which people feel welcome, in particular that is ‘family friendly’, and develop the Museum as a destination and space for social interaction by all the community
- Develop gallery displays that: increase public understanding through interpretation of our collections in a way that people can access to suit their own learning style and level of knowledge or interest; are more dynamic and interactive; provide opportunities for the community to present and directly contribute to our knowledge of the local heritage
- Work in partnership with community organisations and the local heritage sector, to develop and deliver heritage-based outreach programmes, in particular to target communities that are not traditional museum users.
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What is Phase 1 of the Wrexham Community Heritage Project?
Working within an overall Vision, the development of the Museum and associated services will be undertaken in a series of discrete phases. The proposals for Phase 1 of the Project are: -
- To develop and deliver a heritage-based community outreach programme, in particular to encourage participation by new audiences from communities whose heritage is marginalised or who consider heritage to be irrelevant;
- To improve signage and provide information about the Museum and what it has to offer on the Museum forecourt.
- To ‘reposition’ the Museum through more effective marketing and promotional activities.
- To reduce the psychological and physical barrier of the present boundary wall at the front of the Museum by partial removal of the wall facing the town centre;
- To provide a programme of heritage-based events and activities on the Museum forecourt;
- To extend the existing ‘virtual’ on-line trail about the history of the building with a series of interpretative panels in each of the public spaces (commencing with Phase 1 on the Museum forecourt), supported by a programme of guided building tours;
- To develop a voluntary ‘blue badge’ scheme for guided walks of the town, starting and ending at the Museum;
- To extend the front of the Museum and create a new reception, retail area and coffee/tea shop which will provide a more welcoming and comfortable social environment for people who do not usually visit Museums;
- To utilise the coffee/tea shop as a way to introduce new visitors to heritage, as a ‘taster’ of the museum experience (e.g. exhibits and images from the collections), interactive market research and activity programmes (e.g. Saturday story-time sessions for toddlers, and displays of work by young people from the Wrexham Victoria Centre) aimed at specific audiences.
- To create a new gallery to establish a permanent presence for the National Museum and the National Library of Wales in north east Wales, including actual and virtual access to their collections and services;
- To provide a new exhibition in the central gallery which will be developed and designed:
- To increase knowledge and understanding of what makes Wrexham County Borough distinctive, in particular its cultural heritage;
- To provide opportunities for visitors to record their personal histories/memories and contribute to the creation of a community archive;
- To enable visitors to be actively involved and contribute to the development of museum/archive collections and exhibition content;
- To be more interactive and dynamic, in particular to be more ‘family friendly’;
- To improve intellectual access, in particular for people with different learning styles and those with sensory impairments.
- To increase the learning potential of the exhibition in relation to the National Curriculum/Curriculum Cymreig and the needs of pupils/students.
- To create a new suite of fully accessible toilet / baby change facilities serving the ground floor;
- To improve access for people with mobility impairment, between the existing lift and teaching space on the first floor;
- To fit the teaching space with technology that will enable it to provide ‘remote’ learning opportunities for schools and the wider community e.g. via whiteboard, video conference equipment;
- To provide accessible toilet / baby change facilities on the first floor, initially for visitors using the teaching space, but in the long term serving visitors to subsequent phases of development on the whole first floor.
View the architect and exhibition design concept proposals
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What Future Phases are planned?
It is intended that, working within the overall vision for the development of the Museum, the Phase 1 Project will be designed so as to allow progression to later phases with minimal impact on Phase 1, as and when further physical improvements to the building are implemented. The subsequent phases are planned as follows:
Phase 2
- Raise the height of the roof over the ground floor gallery to create a central ‘atrium’ – this will allow for the insertion of a balcony to help address the difference in floor levels between the spaces of the first floor.
- Develop the large courtroom and adjacent room on the north side of the first floor, to create new galleries with displays telling how the communities of the County Borough developed and the story of the local people who lived, worked and fought from the eighteenth to the 20th centuries.
- Complete the proposals for the Museum forecourt, with further interpretation about the Museum building, the development of a town trail, and installation of an iconic feature (work of art and/or large artefact).
Phase 3
- Extend the public search room facility of the Palmer Centre for Archives and Local Studies, to increase capacity for visitors to research the collections
- Improve storage accommodation for the local studies collection.
- Extend the Satellite facility to create an archive store to BS5454 standard.
- If demand requires, as part of this phase, consider whether an extension of the Satellite on the first floor would be permitted to provide for enhanced conservation studio and Collections Centre facilities.
- Associated relocation of office accommodation for archive & local studies staff.
Phase 4
- Relocate the teaching space to the ground floor and create a dedicated education suite with associated facilities
- Install environmental controls for the special exhibitions gallery, so that the Museum could exhibit collections of more sensitive material
- Develop the south wing of the first floor to create new galleries for archaeology and football.
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How will the Wrexham County Borough Museum Community Heritage Project help the Community?
The improvements will help deliver the following key corporate objectives of the Council: -
- Raising educational attainment;
- Promoting cultural diversity and increasing the availability of safe leisure and cultural opportunities for play and creativity;
- Improving economic health.
Specifically, the project will make the following contributions: -
- Lying within a Conservation Area, the museum is located in a listed building which is a major landmark in the town. The overall Vision is to upgrade and bring the whole building into public use.
- The museum will become a major learning resource by maximising use of the heritage collections through exhibitions, education and activity programmes for both formal and informal learning opportunities at the museum and delivered directly into the community. It will provide:
- Exhibitions and teaching resources to support the Curriculum Cymreig
- Out of school / holiday activities
- Adult learning programmes
- Resources to support self-directed learning.
- The museum will contribute to the local economy by providing an attraction for visitors and a ‘gateway’ to encourage people to explore other heritage sites around the County Borough.
- It will be a ‘showcase’ for the County Borough so that people can be proud of their past with new opportunities for local communities to be actively involved in the care, interpretation and promotion of their local heritage to a wider audience.
- A museum designed to make everyone feel welcome and meet visitor expectations will encourage more people to become aware of and engage with their heritage and use the museum more frequently.
- Our museums and archives preserve the legacy of our past for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations and help us to understand our contemporary world. They can give us a sense of identity as individuals, families and communities, and help build bridges between generations for example, the commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of World War II. They enable people to actively research local history and learn new skills, many of which are valued in education and in the workplace.
- The improvements will offer the opportunity for our community to have direct access to national and important collections (and associated services) related to this area but never previously available locally. The museum has already built strong partnerships with Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales, the National Library of Wales and the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum but currently lacks the ability to exploit those relationships to their full potential.
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What has happened so far?
The Phase 1 project is part of an ongoing programme of improvements to the museum. View a history of the Museum development to date.
A Project Management Team has overseen and co-ordinated the preparatory work for our application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a representative group of elected members/Councillors are monitoring the progress of the project.
We secured a £50,000 Project Planning Grant from the HLF to enable us to commission three of the essential documents for the application, namely:
i) An Access Plan comprising an audit of the museum buildings and recommendations for ensuring the museum is as accessible as possible to all sections of the community. This work included initial consultation with representatives from local disability organisations. The recommendations will be incorporated into the Phase 1 architectural and exhibition design proposals and activity programmes.
ii) An Audience Development Plan based on market research and consultation with users and non-users, and with recommendations for ensuring that the museum can optimise new audiences and build on existing audiences. The Plan tells us that we can expect to increase the number of people who use the Museum and its services from 15,000 to 58,000 a year.
iii) A Conservation Management Plan based on an appraisal of the museum buildings and historic research. The Plan provides a framework for conservation of the historic fabric of the building and is being used to inform the design process and will guide future repair and maintenance.
Other documents required by the HLF have been prepared as follows:
iv). Initial concept architectural designs and equivalent exhibition display designs. The architects are Austin Smith: Lord and the exhibition design company is Bright 3D. We will require listed building consent from Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments as well as building regulations.
Click to view Austin Smith: Lord and Bright3D websites.
v). A Collections’ Management Plan, which considers every aspect of care of the museum, archive and local study collections held by the County Borough Heritage Service.
vi). The Education (Learning & Access) Plan describes the existing position, identifies issues and opportunities, and provides a detailed action plan which outlines how the museum will develop an audience through formal and informal learning opportunities.
vii). A Training Plan that focuses on the training and development needs, and the opportunities that arise from the Phase 1 project.
Reference copies of all the above Plans are available for inspection at the A.N. Palmer Centre in Wrexham County Borough Museum.
 Museum Developments To Date
This document is available to download in the following format:
Museum Developments To Date - PDF Version 261Kb 
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What is the timetable for the Phase 1 Project?
Progress will depend on the final outcome of an application for funding support to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
The HLF considers applications in two stages: a Stage 1 Pass was awarded in March 2008. This means that the HLF has earmarked £950,000 funding towards the project while more detailed plans are put together.
A development grant of £30,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will allow the Museum and its architect and exhibition design team to work up the initial outline proposals with a view to submitting a scheme in September for final approval by the Heritage Lottery Fund early in 2009. Subject to final approval, work would begin on site in autumn 2009 and take around ten months to complete. The Museum would re-open in summer 2010.
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How much will the refurbishment cost and how will it be funded?
The current estimate for the total cost of the Phase 1 project - which includes the physical improvements to the building, new galleries and community outreach programmes – is just over £2million..
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What happens if the application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) does not succeed?
There are two stages at which the HLF will consider our application. A pass at Stage 1 is not an automatic guarantee that the project will secure funding; this will only be known once HLF has considered the final application.
If the HLF decides not to fund the project, or to give a lower level of funding than requested, then the Council will have to review the project.
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How much extra will the museum cost to run when the Phase 1 project is completed?
We have developed a Business Plan that outlines the estimated expenditure and income for the Museum once the Phase 1 Project has been completed. The additional net cost of the project is projected to be £52,000 in 2011/12 (the first full year of operation).
The project is expected to create the equivalent of 1 new full time, and 3 part time jobs. These will all provide services directly to the public for example, development and delivery of the education and community programmes, technical support for the galleries and promotion and publicity of the museum. The café/coffee shop will be operated on a franchise basis, which is expected to create a number of other jobs.
The Council has authorised the project to be taken forward at this stage on the basis that the additional revenue cost will not lead to an increase in the overall Council budget.
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Who are the Museum's partners?
The Museum is already a partner of Amgueddfa Cymru National Museum Wales (ACNMW) under the Welsh Assembly-sponsored ‘Cyfoeth Cymru Gyfan - Sharing Treasures’ scheme. This partnership will be significantly strengthened.
The National Library of Wales (NLW) has also indicated that it wishes to work closely with the museum to promote wider access to its collections.
In addition to collections, the refurbished museum will provide a public access point or ‘portal’ to the wider services of both the ACNMW and NLW (for example through electronic links) providing a regional access point to these all-Wales institutions that are geographically remote from the County Borough.
The Trustees of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Regimental Museum (RWF) in Caernarfon are enthusiastic to bring the Regiment’s significant archive and reserve museum collections to Wrexham, in order to achieve greater public access (reflecting the historic relationship between the regiment and Wrexham – its ‘home’ town). It is intended that in future phases, the proposed exhibition galleries would incorporate relevant County Borough material from the RWF archive and reserve collection, with online resources and temporary and touring exhibitions being developed to utilise material otherwise held in store.
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What will happen to the Heritage Service during the refurbishment phase?
For practical operational, and health and safety reasons, the Museum will have to close during the construction phase, and alternative arrangements be made for the temporary relocation of staff offices, reserve collections and the maintenance of heritage services.
Public access to the Archives and Local Studies collections will be made available via Wrexham Library and on-line services.
During the construction phase, the Museum will continue to maintain a public profile through a programme of exhibitions, events and educational programmes which will be delivered across the community to encourage new audiences for the improved museum.
We have already received expressions of interest from local schools who would like to be involved during the development stage of the project.
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'Making Heritage Matter' - A Heritage Strategy for Wrexham County Borough
The application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is considered within the wider framework of a Heritage Strategy for the County Borough.
With funding support from CyMAL: Museums, Archives and Libraries Wales we developed a Strategy that provides a strategic overview for prioritising and managing within the heritage sector itself, and a common basis for action for everybody working with heritage in the County Borough.
View the Heritage Strategy
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How can I learn more and have my say about how we can improve the Museum and help more people to engage with their heritage?
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Cymraeg
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