16th July 2019
Hull Maritime Museum will temporarily close to the public to undertake a range of technical intrusive surveys, as the £27.4m Hull Yorkshire’s Maritime City project steps up a gear.
The closure from 10am, Monday 22 July will enable a specialist company to complete surveys to ahead of its major refurbishment. The museum will re-open as normal on Saturday 27 July at 10am.
Councillor Marjorie Brabazon, Chair of Hull Culture and Leisure, said: “These surveys are necessary for any project of this size and scale. We hope residents and visitors will understand the need for the short closure as we continue our preliminary work ahead of the museums extensive refurbishment.
“The work will investigate further the structure of the building for those areas that have been hidden for decades and will be opened up for the first time. These will help us finalise the detailed designs to develop an exciting and world-class museum.”
Simon Green, Director of Cultural Services at Hull Culture and Leisure, said: “There are always surprises when you investigate a building that is this old and this special. The last round of surveys discovered the mechanism for a dumb waiter that was used to deliver the Victorian director’s lunch. We had no idea this was hidden behind a later partition. Who knows what we will find this time.
“We know this is not ideal for families just starting the school holiday season and we are sorry for any disappointment but our other facilities will be open as normal and this work is key to ensuring the future of this iconic building.”
The council was awarded initial support of £1.37m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to help the city tell its important maritime story. A round-two bid was submitted on 24 May 2019. If successful, approval will release the full grant of £13.6m and this ambitious project will come to fruition.
