Dorset County Museum's Collections Discovery Centre

Collections Discovery Centre Dorset County Museum November 2014 Masterplan 2014-2024

Dorset County Museum Foreword

From the Jurassic Coast to Maiden Castle, from Mary Anning to Thomas Hardy, from Judge Jeffreys to the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Dorset, surely one of England’s finest jewels, has a thousand stories to tell. Its rich and varied history, dramatic and unspoiled landscape, important cultural heritage and unique identity combine to give it a special character all its own.

Dorset County Museum provides Dorset with a focal point for this rich history, representing the best of Dorset’s archaeology, geology, social heritage, literature and the arts generally, including a large number of internationally significant artefacts, in its collections.

If you are travelling to Dorset for the first time, or if you are local and simply want to find out more about the place you have chosen to live, then please come and see for yourself. I can promise that you won’t regret it.

Since it was founded in 1845, the Museum has displayed the county’s treasures in a high-Victorian masterpiece of gothic architecture. This building is in itself a wonderful asset, and one of the highlights of the visitor’s experience, but it is also a limiting factor when it comes to providing the infrastructure that is now needed to care for the collections, as they should be cared for, and creating the facilities that visitors now expect. This is why the Collections Discovery Centre project is so important. It will ensure a long-term future for the collections, put previously hidden objects into public view, and allow people to see more of Dorset’s heritage and the workings of the Museum than ever before. It will also ensure that the volunteers, without whom the Museum could not function, have the facilities and working environment they deserve.

It is vital that the County Museum should continue to add to the collections, while also supporting other local community museums, ensuring a safe future for the precious things assembled over many years. The project will upgrade the Museum’s exhibition space, enabling it to bring world class exhibitions to the local area, and develop the Museum’s role as a cultural and community hub for a range of events and activities. The Centre will also create a centre for schools, colleges, families and life-long learners. The Museum’s formal education sessions and informal learning activities are already oversubscribed, so this is a development that is long overdue. By the time of the project’s completion in 2020, while retaining and respecting its Victorian roots, the Museum will have been completely transformed into a modern, sustainable heritage service that serves twice as many visitors, making an even more significant contribution to the local economy. In short, I believe that the Collections Discovery Centre will benefit not only the Museum, not only students or tourists, but all of us. It will enrich Dorset as a whole, and I would urge you to support it.

The Lord Fellowes of West Stafford

Patron of the Dorset County Museum Development Appeal

Dorset County Museum November 2014 2

Dorset County Museum Contents Overview PART ONE - BACKGROUND 1.

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

Introduction A uniquely important collection Why develop the Museum now?

Where we are now Project outcomes Project development

2.

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4

The Museum and its Context Dorset County Museum Strategic vision for Dorset County Museum Wider social context Wider policy and partnership context

PART TWO - THE NEED FOR CHANGE 3.

Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.1 Our heritage collections 3.2 Collections: overview and heritage significance 3.3 Collections: management, display and

interpretation - where we are now 4.

4.1

4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8 4.9

People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering Learning aims and policy, resources and staffing Overview - learning: SWOT analysis Current activities: formal learning Current activities: informal learning Formal and informal learning: capacity, facilities, access Need for Change: Informal and formal learning barriers to engagement Volunteering and training: policy, resources and staffing Capacity, facilities, access Limitations and the need for change

5.

Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.1 Visit Numbers 5.2 Visitors: Who are they?

5.3 Seasonality 5.4 Audience perceptions and feedback 5.5 Communications and audience development 5.6 Barriers to increased access and engagement 5.7 Potential audience: market size and

penetration rates 5.8 Developing levels of engagement / visitor experience

PART THREE - DESIRED OUTCOMES Desired Outcomes for Heritage, People and 6.

Communities Introduction 6.1 Summary of desired outcomes for Heritage 6.2 6.3 Summary of desired outcomes for People 6.4 Summary of desired outcomes for Communities PART FOUR - BUILDING ORGANISATIONAL RESILIENCE 7.

7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9

Organisational Development Collections management and displays Temporary exhibition Maintenance of the building Learning Marketing strategy and resources: DCM brand Digital capacity Staff and volunteer capacity Governance Trading

8.

8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8

Business and Resources Introduction Scenarios Expenditure Income 10-year business plan Economic Impact Conclusion Summary of desired outcomes

PART FIVE - OUR PROJECT 9.

9.1

Outline Activity Plan Developing a provisional Activity Plan

10.

10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9

Site Context Dorchester Local context Land ownership History of the site Buildings and site features Planning context Site constraints Site access Appraisal

11.

11.1 11.2 11.3

Building Audit Site uses Building audit Environmental and structural analysis

12.

12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7

Options Analysis Context: the need for change Options analysis Scoring criteria Options Scoring results Conclusion: Preferred option Option variants

13.

13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8

Preferred Option Overview Town Building Room Collections: storage, conservation and access Staff and volunteer access Researchers Capital cost

PART SIX - DEVELOPMENT PHASE PLAN 14.

14.1 14.2 14.3

Capital Fundraising Strategy Fundraising track record and capacity Capital funding strategy Fundraising capacity

15.

Project Management: Delivery Phase 15.1 Overview of the Development Phase 15.2 Project management and governance arrangements 15.3 Organisational capacity and key additional

team members 15.4 Procurement and Consultant briefs 15.5 Design team procurement 15.6 Summary of key development phase

deliverables and timetable 15.7 Risk

APPENDICES A. Letters of support B. Project timeline C. Cost consultant report D. 10-year financial projections E. Fundraising strategy F. Property valuations G. Job descriptions and briefs

1. Client project manager job description

2. Fundraising and development manager job

description

3. Business plan consultant brief

4. Activity plan consultant brief

5. Conservation management plan consultant

brief H. Audience, volunteer and stakeholder

consultation reports I. Learning review J. Interpretation and display

1. Outline interpretation and display strategy

2. Temporary exhibition project proposal

3. Contemporary collecting project proposal

4. Ancient Dorset Gallery proposals K. Archaeology collections review L. Conservation statement M. Communications plans N. Articles of association O. Forward plan P. Volunteer policy Q. 2012/13 Outline feasibility study R. Services report S. Structural report T. Heritage assessment U. Arboricultural report V. Risk register W. VAT documents X. Title documents

Dorset County Museum November 2014 3

Dorset County Museum Overview Dorset County Museum is a vibrant and valued museum holding a remarkable variety of nationally and internationally important heritage collections. It is, without question, the museum of Dorset, being the only heritage collection in the county that provides a complete overview of its landscape, environment, history, culture and identity. It is this role that makes it so important to the people of Dorset.

However, it urgently needs to transform its facilities to develop new and broader audiences, and to provide for the proper safekeeping, conservation and public engagement with the objects in its care – some of which are at physical risk without significant intervention to safeguard their future. The Museum also needs to develop a more diverse learning offer and a wider range of community activities, and to underpin its financial resilience and sustainability.

In the face of this pressing need across a range of areas of activity, the Collections Discovery Centre project has been developed to provide new galleries, learning resources, collections storage facilities and a renewed public face for the Museum that will: Showcase and interpret its nationally and internationally important collections to celebrate the unique heritage and story of Dorset.

This is a story that spans over 185 million years and help us understand some of the most important fundamental principles of both natural and human history Build a safe conservation environment and sustainable future for the heritage our collection represents.

This is Dorset’s museum, holding only objects from the county, collected by the people of the county. The extent to which our facilities are already used shows the value the community places upon us as their major heritage provider. But while our infrastructure has evolved over the past 170 years, it now falls short of the significance of the collections and means that we are unable to provide an appropriate heritage infrastructure for the county.

Create additional collecting capacity for Dorset’s strategically important collections.

These include both archaeology from the ancient ceremonial landscape of the South Dorset Ridgeway and geology and paleontology from the coastline of the UNESCO ‘Jurassic Coast’ World Heritage Site. This will benefit not only Dorset County Museum, but is extra storage space, conservation and research facilities that will be shared with other accredited museums in Dorset.

Enable a wider and more diverse range of high quality learning experiences to take place.

Creating a new learning centre and enhancing our education team will, for example, enable us to use our collections to provide new resources for the teaching of prehistory and science as part of the national curriculum, increase access to a group for adults with learning disabilities, and establishment long-term learning partnerships with local health and well-being agencies.

Encourage a greater number and broader range of visitors to experience the collections and their stories.

New galleries, accessible storage areas and engaging interpretative approaches will allow the Museum to fully draw out the region’s history of culture, knowledge and discovery. They will also be designed to help Dorset’s people take a more active role in their heritage and attract those non-traditional and hard-to-reach audiences our research shows do not currently use or engage with the Museum. We will also use the opportunity provided by this project to completely overhaul our marketing, branding, publicity and membership strategies, developing our business resilience by giving the Museum a clearer identity that enables us to be more competitive in a crowded market place.

Regenerate a site in the centre of Dorchester’s urban conservation area.

The area covered by the Collections Discovery Centre includes the historically significant rectory of the Reverend John White. A listed building where events took place that played a key role in the founding of the United States of America; its restoration will help promote our understanding of Dorset’s international story. It will also become an important strand in the positioning of Dorset as a cultural destination, as it provides a definite link back to the county’s identity for the many tens of thousands of people around the world who can trace their family heritage back to Dorset.

Improve the cultural tourism offer for Dorset, and support the regional economy.

The Museum is in the heart of a rural county, in the centre of the county town, and in an area that attracts visitors from across the UK. In this location, with the right investment, we have a wonderful opportunity to offer access to heritage and become an essential part of the experience of visiting Dorset.

Together, these outcomes from the delivery of the Collections Discovery Centre project will enable the Museum to respond to the visitor anticipations, community demands, and collections management standards that should be expected from Dorset’s leading cultural and heritage organisation.

Provide an interface between the traditionally separated public and private spheres of the Museum, widening participation and engagement by creating new learning and volunteering experiences.

Visitors will be able to see reserve collections and have the opportunity to get involved with the everyday conservation and collections management of the museum as part of their visit. Extra working spaces will allow us to accommodate the potential volunteers currently on a waiting list due to lack of capacity, and to recruit additional volunteers in a wide range of roles.

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Part One : Background

1. Introduction The development of the Collections Discovery Centre at Dorset County Museum is an exciting and innovative heritage project that will reimagine and renew this highly regarded Museum.

It will conserve and make accessible the unique record of Dorset’s heritage contained within our internationally and nationally significant collections for the benefit of people and communities.

In many ways Dorset County Museum is something of a “sleeping giant”, whose present status as a medium sized, independent museum belies the importance of the objects in our care.

This is because over the last 170 years we have assembled one of the highest quality collections in the West Country, and been involved with some of Britain’s leading figures in the domains of both natural and human history. Creating the Collections Discovery Centre will help us unlock the potential for understanding and explaining Dorset’s heritage, identity and sense of place our collections unquestionably contain. It will allow us to make better and much more accessible use of our objects for display and research, and to create inspirational learning, volunteering, community engagement and social well-being opportunities.

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Part One : Background

1.1 A Uniquely Important Collection “And have you ever seen the Museum? Then you should do so at once… there are crowds of interesting things—skeletons, teeth, old pots and pans, ancient boots and shoes, birds’ eggs—all charmingly instructive. You’ll be sure to stay till you get quite hungry.”

Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character (1886) Founded upon the twin disciplines of natural history and archaeology, Dorset County Museum focused on collecting material during the high Victorian period that in parts is unparalleled – even in some of the national museums.

A variety of Roman coins discovered as part of the ‘Marks and Spencer’s Hoard’ found during building work in Dorchester in 1935.

A volunteer running a children’s craft event

The work of General Augustus Pitt-Rivers on his Cranborne Chase estate in Dorset and William Cunnington FSA in examining the county’s myriad barrow burial sites, work which was fundamental in transforming archaeology from mere antiquarian treasure hunting to a modern-day science, is reflected in the earliest collections of the Museum’s archaeological holdings. Subsequently, the breakthroughs in archaeological philosophy and technique pioneered by Sir Mortimer Wheeler at his excavations of Maiden Castle and the Dorchester Roman Town House, combined with the fundamental insights into Roman Britain they reveal, form the collection’s core and are still subject to constant re-examination, re-evaluation and re-interpretation today. It has been continually added to since that time by both our own excavations and deposition by other archaeological units and is an almost complete record of the county’s ancient history. It includes material from important sites that help define our understanding of people’s activities at a point in the past. In developing our understanding of the prehistoric world, many experts consider Dorset to be as important as Stonehenge and Avebury for revealing the lives of our ancestors.

A similar story can be told regarding natural history.

In 1846 Mary Anning, the great fossil hunter from Lyme Regis, became the first woman member of the Dorset County Museum – a time when the scientific establishment shunned Anning on the grounds of her gender, class and religious beliefs. Consequently, the very first fossils in the Museum’s collection were acquired from her. Our collections also reflect the work of other pioneering geologists in Dorset, including William Smith, W.J. Arkell and Osmond Fisher. Together the internationally significant collections they assembled contribute to fundamental understandings of geological stratigraphy, geomorphology, continental

drift and Jurassic paleontology. Today, by working in partnership with museums across Dorset, our collections now stand as the most complete record of the geology and paleontology of the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

Our natural history collection also reveals much about the development of scientific thinking in the nineteenth century and the impact of human activity on the local environment since that time. Most notable is the collection of bird skins donated by Alfred Russel Wallace after he joined the Museum upon his retirement to Broadstone in Dorset in 1903, and collected by him during his expeditions to the Malay Archipelago during the 1850s . Unrecognised until recently, these specimens were of vital importance in the bio-geographical research that led to Wallace’s breakthrough in independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection and to his writing of The Malay Archipelago – which is regarded as probably the best of all of the journals of scientific exploration published during the 19th century.

Wallace’s specimens are also complimented superbly by the herbarium collections given to the Museum

by Professor James Buckman, professor of geology, botany, and zoology at the Royal Agricultural College from 1848 to 1863. Buckman used the newly developing techniques of botanical experiment to develop new varieties of vegetable for agriculture. This in turn drew him to the attention of Charles Darwin, who corresponded with him and praised his work in On the Origin of Species in 1859 . Buckman was in turn a supporter of Darwin. In his report of 1860 to the infamous meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford he backed Darwin’s theories of evolution. The Anglican principal of the Royal Agricultural College found this distasteful and by 1863 had forced Buckman’s resignation. In October 1863 Buckman moved to farm ‘on scientific principles’ at Bradford Abbas, at which time he joined the Museum ultimately donating it his collections. Alongside the herbarium, vertebrate and invertebrate zoology collections is one of the earliest known surviving copies of On the Origin of Species, which had been uniquely inscribed by Darwin and presented to Buckman personally.

The collections at Dorset County Museum, which illustrate the county’s social history, cultural life and artistic contribution, are also of tremendous significance. One of the Museum’s founders in 1845 was the Reverend William Barnes , a poet and polymath, whose collection bequeathed to the Museum in 1901 reveal him to be one of very few ‘modern’ poets to write in dialect – capturing the vanishing language and sound of Dorset in the process. Barnes also played

Dorset County Museum November 2014 6

Part One : Background

a critical role as mentor to the young Thomas Hardy, helping him develop as a writer, and involving him in the life of the Museum, where he would in later life become a Trustee and President.

Thomas Hardy is, of course, a literary figure of international importance, both seminal and transitional. The Hardy collection at the Museum is central to the cultural heritage we preserve and interpret, and its unique quality comes from the high proportion of objects, which have a direct connection with the writer himself. The majority of objects were donated by Hardy or bequeathed by his widow. There are many original manuscripts, including three novels and two volumes of poetry. A collection of Hardy’s correspondence contains about 5,000 letters, and his study has been reconstructed at the Museum. As the largest collection of Hardy material in the world, its significance was recognised by inscription on the UNESCO ‘Memory of the World’ register of important archives in 2012.

The reconstruction of Thomas Hardy’s study from his Max Gate home

A young visitor enjoying some of the activities available in the Jurassic Coast gallery

Drawn to Dorset by the genius of Hardy and the beauty of its landscape, other writers came to the county in his wake. Those represented in our collection include John Cooper Powys, Theodore Powys, Hope Muntz, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Valentine Ackland. Together they formed a ‘literary enclave’ in the small village of Chaldon Herring, near Lulworth .

The cultural heritage of Dorset reflected in our collections is further strengthened by significant holdings of social history material, a wide range of regionally unique Dorset costume and textiles, and a fine art collection particularly strong in portraits and landscapes. This in turn reflects the people who have shaped the county and been inspired by it.

Containing works from the 17th to the 20th centuries, it is an eclectic range of material acquired over 150 years. Dorset has produced a number of renowned artists, such as James Thornhill, Thomas Beach, John Baverstock Knight, William Delamotte and John Everett , all of whom are represented in the collection.

Furthermore, the county has long been a destination for visiting artists and since the 18th century its landscapes and houses have been recorded in a proliferation of prints, drawings and paintings. These are reflected in the collection, which includes works

by John Constable , Paul Nash, George Dannatt and Elsie Barling, alongside the bequests of significant Dorset art collectors. This has seen our development of a collection of paintings with a regional character, such as the St Ives works we hold by Alfred Wallis and Christopher Wood. Of further significance for Dorset are those professional and amateur artists who responded to the Dorset landscape by painting en plein air. Within our collection it is the work of Frederick Whitehead

who most strongly represents this movement. At Thomas Hardy’s suggestion he began to paint in Dorset in 1893, producing a large number of fresh, atmospheric works evoking the cottages, streams and heaths of Hardy’s Wessex. Over a similar period portrait artists of varying ability travelled to Dorset making portraits of and for its more prosperous inhabitants.

These paintings tell great stores of fortunes made and lost, of landownership, trade, politics and power, and include works by artists such as George Romney, William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough .

Finally, the Museum’s building can be considered to be of significance in itself. Built in 1883 , the architect George Crickmay drew upon an understanding of display areas gained from the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the International Exhibition of 1881. In doing so he produced a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic museum architecture, which in turn partly influenced Alfred Waterhouse in his design for the Manchester Museum of 1890. But within our estate lies an arguably more important building still, the 16th century rectory building of John White. White was an Anglican minister who sympathised with the Puritan cause. In 1620 he helped organise one of the earliest departures of Puritans to Massachusetts in America. Originating from across Dorset, Devon and Somerset, they met together at his rectory home before travelling on the Mary and John from the nearby port of Weymouth. Having navigated the Atlantic they founded the Massachusetts Bay Company and a new settlement – which they named Dorchester in honour of the good Reverend and is now the oldest of all Boston’s suburbs. As a result White’s rectory, although now much altered and semiderelict, is an important place of pilgrimage for many Americans tracing their family history, and worthy of restoration.

Overall therefore, the collections of the Dorset County Museum are an amazingly rich resource. They provide a detailed insight into the nature of collecting in the 19th century and the activities of a significant provincial Museum and its learned society – but one which is far from parochial, actively engaging with many of the most significant developments and advances of the day. Consequently we have amassed collections that are of a significance out of all proportion with our size and location, and which shed light on developments in geology, archaeology, natural history, literature, culture and social history at both a national and international level. But we need to overhaul the Museum if the promise of this collection is to be realised, with its significance fully understood, made accessible and appreciated by all.

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Part One : Background

1.2 Why Develop The Museum Now? “The town is populous, tho’ not large, the streets broad, but the buildings old… a man might as agreeably spend his time, and as well in Dorchester, as in any town I know” Daniel Defoe, A Tour Through The Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-26)

The Weymouth Bay Pliosaur - the largest prehistoric marine reptile ever discovered.

As will be explored further in Section 3 of this report, the Museum is at a critical point in its 170-year history.

As an independent museum with no core public funding that relies on its members and visitors for around 65% of its net income, we have been unable to make major investments in our buildings or collections management facilities over the past 30 years. As an educational charity we are proud to have survived, but in the current harsh economic climate, without substantial capital help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other outside funders to bring about a fundamental transformation in our building, our public offer and our business model, we will be able to do little more than manage decline. We believe our collections, our heritage and the people of Dorset deserve better.

Our vision for the Collections Discovery Centre is what we believe is required for Dorset County Museum to achieve this transformation .

Our 19th century building is architecturally beautiful, but it cannot meet the expectations of modern visitors, requirements for disabled access, nor the needs of today’s formal education groups and lifelong learners.

It certainly cannot continue to meet the increasingly high standards for collections management and conservation that will be demanded by Accreditation in future. In certain areas its limitations mean that our collection is under threat and at serious risk of longterm damage.

These pressures have resulted in the most comprehensive review of the Museum’s estate since the 1960s and in the most radical and important proposals to revise the Museum since it was first established.

Art students from Thomas Hardy Secondary School on a study trip to the Museum

This is because we accept that today we must evolve if we are to be truly sustainable. In the decade up to 2009 the Museum ran regular and substantial deficits on its day-to-day trading. By aggressively reducing costs and overheads, and by exploring all avenues to generate additional income, by 2011 a break-even position had been achieved – despite a 50% reduction in revenue funding from the local authorities over the same period.

But there is a limit to how much additional income we can generate from our existing building, with all its limitations in terms of access, confusing layout,

aging interpretation, poor customer retail and catering facilities and low visitor ‘kerb appeal’. Equally there is a limit on how long expenditure can be reduced to the very barest levels before services begin to suffer, the risk to collections rises and, in effect, the heritage we exist to protect begins to depreciate. The Collections Discovery Centre project has been developed from the very start with a view to addressing these issues and ensuring a long-term future for our Museum and the heritage its collections represent.

In addition, we also believe that a number of other factors have come together to make this the right time to deliver on our vision for the future of the Museum.

After a comprehensive review of governance in 2012 we now have a Memorandum and Articles of Association that is fit for purpose. This has healed the divisions that had held the Museum back and has given the Museum’s members and local community a truly democratic input into how the Museum operates. It has also resulted in a Board of Trustees that endeavours to operate through consensus and has recruited the right blend of skills to deliver a project of this magnitude. A staff re-organisation in 2010 has produced a smaller, but more focused, talented and committed team, which has been able to energise a group of over 150 active volunteers in support of its objectives. This, alongside efforts to reduce expenditure wherever possible and exploit new avenues for income generation, has enabled the Museum to run a balanced budget on dayto-day trading since 2011-12. The first time this has happened since the 1990s, it has enabled us to recruit the expert help, architects and consultants that we know are needed to initiate a development project such as the Collections Discovery Centre.

Furthermore, the project fits into and supports the wider context of developments in Dorset as the county undergoes a rapid period of development and regeneration. The creation by the Duchy of Cornwall of Poundbury on the western edge of Dorchester has seen its population grow by over 20% in the last decade – making it one of the fastest growing communities in the South West.1 By the time that the final phase of Poundbury is completed in 2025 a further 2,500 dwellings will have been added to the historic county town, growing its population by one-quarter.

This growth in population has been accompanied by a healthy expansion of retail, tourism and leisure opportunities – in part a legacy of the impact of hosting in Dorset the sailing events for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In effect a showcase for the coastline of the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and the landscapes of the South Dorset Ridgeway AONB, this has significantly boosted cultural tourism to Dorset at a time when the traditional ‘bucket and

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Part One : Background

A small collection from the millions of objects in the reserve archaeology collection at Dorset County Museum

spade’ holiday is in decline.2 The regeneration of Weymouth and Portland Port as part of the London 2012 Olympic Games has also supported this process with the establishment of a new cruise liner trade for the region.

of the primary aspects of delivery: capital funding, organisational capacity and project management.

Significant efforts have also been made in Dorchester to capitalise on this opportunity. The development

by Waterhouse of the derelict Eldridge Pope site into ‘Brewery Square’ has creating a vibrant new quarter in the heart of Dorchester, with over 600 new hotel rooms.3 In addition, exciting new plans for the development of Charles Street by Simmons would see extra retail capacity, car parking and residential dwellings created in the town centre.4 To balance these schemes, West Dorset District Council is supporting the development of the Conservation Area along High West Street as a ‘heritage quarter’ for Dorchester, which would link the Roman Town House, Keep Military Museum, Dorset History Centre, Shire Hall and Old Crown Courts to the Dorset County Museum. This will be a critical strategic development for the town and a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity for our project to take place in the context of wider support regeneration and with an ability to work together with a variety of stakeholders in Dorchester to maximise its benefits for the community, cultural tourism and the local economy.

• • •

The Collections Discovery Centre is also part of a cross-county drive for the development of Dorset’s cultural infrastructure, including Priest House Museum (Wimborne), Shire Hall Project (Dorchester), Bridport Museum, and the Lyme Regis Philpott Museum.

Partnership working has been enhanced through ACE-funded strategic development grants for the Wessex Museums’ Partnership and the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnerships. Collectively this enhanced infrastructure will result in long-term direct and indirect benefits for the people of Dorset and visitors to the county.

1.3 Where We Are Now

A young visitor studies artefacts from our Iron Age collection as part of the annual ‘Big Draw’ initiative.

The Collections Discovery Centre project has been developed in response to a detailed consideration of need and our desired outcomes for heritage, people and communities, a summary of which is set out below and analysed in more detail in Part Three of this report. The proposals have also taken account of the accompanying organisational and business model required to deliver this change, which is described in Part Four. The architectural work is described in Part Five, outlining the site and building considerations and providing an overview of all the options considered before arriving at the preferred option for a major renewal of the Museum’s Gallery, Collections and Trading facilities. Finally Part Six considers some

Overall, the need for change at Dorset County Museum is characterised by three interlinked areas of need: Heritage and Collections Learning and Community Audience Engagement and Satisfaction

1.3.1 Heritage and Collections The richness and variety of Dorset’s heritage combined with the encyclopedic nature of the Museum’s interests has meant that, despite the considered application of a strict Collections Development Policy, our collections have expanded to a point where they have outgrown our existing facilities to accommodate them. The result is that we now lack the physical space to adequately house, conserve, use, display and interpret almost 4 million individual objects in our care, or allow them to achieve their full potential.

Significant aspects of the collections are presently unable to be displayed to the public at all, resulting in the heritage of our natural history, costume and fine art collections being largely inaccessible. Equally displays of collections such as social history are seriously compromised. Elsewhere in the Museum the collections that are on display have had a very traditional, ‘curatorial subject discipline’ approach taken to their presentation. This means that they are not currently interpreted in a way that draws out their rich depth and the definite connections that exist between their individual stories - so the Museum does not effectively capitalise on the opportunity to tell the overarching story of Dorset’s heritage that it clearly has.

Many of its collections are stored or displayed in sub-optimal conditions putting them at significant risk of environmental damage. The Museum’s estate is currently made up of a collection of historic buildings, dating from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Only the main Victorian building of 1883 and the Brawne extension of 1969 were designed with museum use in mind, but were built when accepted standards for display, conservation and visitor facilities were very different from today. As a result there is no control over relative humidity in those spaces for example, and given their architectural constraints little possibility of retrofitting such systems in a sympathetic manner.

Elsewhere collections are stored in the All Saints building (a deconsecrated 19th century church) and 4-5 Colliton Street (a pair of 18th century cob and brick built cottages). The very nature of these converted premises means that neither have effective

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Part One : Background

environmental control to protect the vulnerable and valuable collections they house, access is poor, working facilities are extremely limited, shelving and racking systems compromised and inefficient, and security is minimal. In addition, the diffuse location of the collections discourages interaction between curatorial teams around conservation and research. The Museum has little in the way of facilities for visiting researchers or readers, nowhere to facilitate research access to collections in an appropriate and controlled manner, nor any space to carry out even the most basic of conservation tasks – even though it does have skilled, experience conservators in its staff and volunteer team.

An original sketch of the remains of a Roman mosaic pavement uncovered in the grounds of Dorchester Castle in the 19th century.

Recent partnership projects have provided DCM with a greater understanding of its future organisational and collections requirements. For example, an ACEfunded collections review of archaeology enabled controlled de-accessioning of un-contextualised, un-stratified and bulk materials (see Appendix K for details of this process). At the rates of deposition that have typically occurred since the introduction of PPG16 – Archaeology and Planning in 1990, this has secured an additional 5 years of capacity and a better understanding of what new capacity and facilities are required to ensure future archaeological collecting needs and demands can be met.

1.3.2 Learning and community The limited provision of facilities, resources and staff/volunteer time for the Museum’s learning and community engagement activities restricts both our ambitions and our opportunities for engaging with schools and colleges, the local community and current non-users.

We already have a very active formal offer for schools and colleges, a family and life-long learners informal programme and a unique ‘Museum Makers’ group for adults with learning disabilities and their carers. We have enthusiastically committed to this offer even though we have no fit for purpose learning space.

Currently activities take place in a space that also functions as a gallery as well as being part of the main circulation route around the Museum.

Over 5000 school children from Dorset visit the Museum each year to take part in our formal education programme.

Similarly, we are proud that Dorset County Museum already has a very strong culture of volunteering, with over 150 regular, active volunteers committing over 17,000 hours per year. But again poor facilities and a lack of space for volunteers impact negatively on both the quality and number of opportunities to engage and the nature of work undertaken. Volunteers at the Museum already do much to ensure we are a sustainable, viable, vibrant organisation. However, we

know that they could (and would) do more for us and have a wide variety of skills (in conservation, research, digitisation and visitor services) that our present lack of space and facilities prevent us using. Likewise, we have a significant volunteer waiting list – people who want to give their time but we physically cannot fit into the building due to lack of work spaces – which means we are unable to give them the opportunity to engage with, help preserve and celebrate Dorset’s heritage that they so clearly desire.

As a result we urgently need to give our current volunteers the facilities they are worthy of – professional standard working areas and the right tools to do the job – and create the additional capacity for volunteering to satisfy Dorset’s latent demand. In addition, the Museum also recognises that we need to develop greater staff capacity to manage this growing volunteer workforce.

1.3.3 Audience engagement, satisfaction and expectations There are a number of barriers to wider audience engagement with the Museum. These range from staff and marketing capacity to visibility, accessibility, facilities, the interpretation of the collections and the capacity for high quality temporary exhibitions. The Collections Discovery Centre project and its renewal of the building, the organisation and the museum’s business model will take an integrated approach to addressing all these barriers.

These limitations taken together characterise the need for change at the Museum and forms the basis of our vision for a nationally and internationally important Museum that connects with and serves its local and regional audience.

In order to sustain change in the long term, the Museum’s overall staffing, operating and business model will be transformed as a key outcome of this project. The Museum requires a sustainable business model, which makes the most of available raised, earned and grant income to support its activities and operational costs in the future. These costs will be greater than at present. The business will need to grow accordingly to support our ambitions. The present staff capacity is insufficient for the Museum to be able to fulfil its longer-term ambitions around Heritage, People and Communities. It will be necessary for the organisation to be able to sustainably resource its increased ambitions in collections management, care and access. Consolidating all the Museum’s activities in fit-for-purpose spaces will involve a review of all property assets (owned and rented) and the rationalising of the Museum’s estate.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 10

Part One : Background

If we fail to respond to these challenges, the Museum will be unable to care for its collections or satisfy the needs of our visitors. A fall in the number of visitors would lead to a vicious circle of declining income, continued under investment and a serious threat to our heritage. As the options analysis in Section 11 shows, a partial or phased response to these challenges puts our business plan at risk. For example, responding to the care of the collections without addressing the needs of visitors (new galleries, temporary exhibition spaces, retail, catering and other facilities) would fail to transform the Museum’s business model that underpins the project’s long term success by developing a stronger financial resilience for the whole organisation.

1.4 Project Outcomes

A rare Victorian specimen of a white-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) currently in store and not available for visitors to appreciate and enjoy.

The Collections Discovery Centre project has a large number of outcomes that will transform the physical environment, visitor experience, organisational culture and philosophy, business model and sustainability of Dorset County Museum. These are explored more in Part Six of this report and can be summarised as follows:

2. Conservation - Heritage will be in better condition •

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•

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1.4.1 For Heritage The heritage outcomes for the project can be grouped into three themes as follows:

3. Access, Display and Interpretation - Heritage will be better interpreted / explained

1. Collections Management – Heritage will be better managed, identified and recorded

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•

•

•

In 2014 the Museum worked with Brunel University and the Technology Strategy Board on an innovative project to develop a new type of platform for heritage apps in archaeology

All of the Museum’s heritage collections will be housed in a building that provides appropriate conservation conditions, ensuring they are preserved for the benefit of future generations.

All the collections will be consolidated onto one site allowing for more interaction across collections and ensuring better conditions for volunteering.

There will be additional capacity to collect strategically important material from Dorset. This will include both archaeology from the ancient ceremonial landscape of the South Dorset Ridgeway and geology from the coastline of the UNESCO ‘Jurassic Coast’ World Heritage Site, and we will be able to share this storage capacity with other accredited museums in Dorset.

The 16th century John White’s Rectory will be restored, bringing a significant listed-buliding and heritage asset back into the public domain, The Museum will have fit-for-purpose facilities & infrastructure for conservation, research and exhibition preparation – including the specific provision to actively work on the conservation of our archaeology, geology, costume and art collections - and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums in Dorset

The Museum will develop the buildings, staff and volunteer capacity to carry out the basic aspects of collections management (cataloguing and documentation to SPECTRUM standards, condition reporting, measurement and photography), which are currently hampered by a restricted space and associated lack of equipment.

The Museum will have the necessary laboratory space for conservation and research in relation to its geology and archaeology collections and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums, research professionals and educational institutions in Dorset.

The Museum’s visitors will be directly engaged with and informed about museum collections management practices. This is because the new building layout for the Museum will make its behind the scenes work more visible and give audiences the opportunity to experience collections care, documentation and conservation at first hand.

•

•

• •

The stories and related themes across the Museum’s collections will be revealed so that visitors experience the collection as constellations within an overarching narrative rather than as a series of thematic cul-de-sacs. This will present the story in a way that spans over 250 million years and help us understand some of the most important fundamental principles of both natural and human history.

New permanent display spaces for the presentation and interpretation of our natural history, art and textiles collections will be incorporated into the design of Museum’s building, making these collections fully accessible for the first time The restoration of John White’s Rectory will provide a space in which the international links between Dorset and USA can be explored and made accessible.

The Museum will have the basic facilities required for the ongoing digitisation of its collections.

Access to the collections not on display will be enabled through digitised objects and galleries, as well as collections stored in areas with ‘open’ visitor access and the opportunity to directly handle and

Dorset County Museum November 2014 11

Part One : Background

• • •

engage with objects or collections management activities.

The depth of the collection and the work carried out by volunteers will be revealed through the public being able to see collections volunteers at work.

Objects in the collections will be accessible to be viewed in dedicated research spaces for those with research or specialist interests.

More of the available space in the Museum will be accessible to the public for a range of activities from displays and exhibitions to learning and community use.

1.4.2 For People The outcomes for people from the project can be summarised in four themes as follows:

A tracing by Sir Mortimer Wheeler of the mosaic floor ‘winter’ at the Dorchester Roman Town House as excavated in 1937.

The ‘Museum Makers’ is a group for adults with learning difficulties, who meet to take part in various activities at the Museum.

1. Learning - People will have learned about heritage • The museum will have a dedicated, purposedesigned learning space/ community learning centre, which can accommodate a full range of wet and dry activities for a full school class, as well as having an accessible handling collection kept in the learning centre.

• The project will enable the Museum’s additional staff capacity to develop and manage an enhanced formal learning programme, with strong links with the new national curriculum across all four key stages, delivered by qualified volunteers. This will build upon our existing successes, allow the development of new sessions related to strength of our collection in pre-historic archeology, and enable the creation of ‘hands on’ archaeology sessions in the Museum’s new courtyard spaces.

• The project will provide increased physical space, facilities and staff capacity to deliver more sessions for informal learning groups. We will improve the learning facilities we have available for use by community groups such as the Dorchester Association. We will work in partnership with Dorset Mencap to expand the capacity of our ‘Museum Makers’ group for adults with learning disabilities (which is currently oversubscribed).

This extra capacity will also enable us to use the knowledge gained from this successful initiative to create new links with the Arts in Hospital team at Dorset County Hospital Foundation Trust and Dorset Dementia Action Alliance that will result in new informal learning projects that use our collections to improve health and social well-being in Dorset.

• There will be an enhanced and more sustained family provision, offering more regular activities for more diverse groups and hard to reach audiences.

We will grow our ‘Make and Do’ family activities for the 7-13 age group to encompass a wider range

of collections interests, re-establish previously trialled dedicated groups for the Under 7s (Dino Club) and Under 5s (Rainbow Club), and expand the capacity of our branch of the CBA’s Young Archaeologists Club (for which there is currently a waiting list).

2. Volunteering - People will have volunteered time and developed skills • The Museum will have the physical environment and facilities that will enable curatorial teams to work more effectively on collections management and work together across collections in a more integrated way, developing the common ground between the different collections.

• The project will create more and better working environments for volunteers, enabling the Museum to increase its volunteer capacity and thus volunteer opportunities, particularly in the curatorial departments.

• Develop a volunteer cohort that is reflective of a broader local demographic.

3. Training and Apprenticeships - People will have developed skills • The improved physical environment of the museum, greater revenue income and staff capacity will result in increased opportunities for providing in-house training of staff and volunteers in conservation, collections management, digitisation, web and social media, marketing, hospitality and visitor services.

• There will be a system of apprentices embedded into the staff structure of the Museum, working in collections management, administration and hospitality functions.

• The Museum will establish ongoing work placements and research opportunities for students in Higher Education at both Bournemouth University and University of Exeter.

4. Accessibility • The Museum building will be fully accessible for those with physical disabilities for the first time • The Museum’s interpretation will be entirely overhauled to ensure it is both physically and intellectually accessible and provision is made for a variety of learning styles and approaches.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 12

Part One : Background

1.4.3 For Communities

1.4.4 For Resilience and Sustainability

The outcomes for communities in the project can be summarised in two themes:

The outcomes for resilience and sustainability in the project can be summarised in three themes:

1. Engagement - More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage

1. Staff capacity - Your organisation will be more resilient

•

• •

Wu Qian in concert at Dorset County Museum in 2010

• •

•

• •

Greater access, new displays and improved interpretation will help more of the audience to be aware of the stories told by the objects and make the layers of meaning in an object more explicit.

The project will enhance perceptions of Dorset, its natural history, culture, knowledge and discovery, through the stories told in the Museum.

The Museum will develop greater audience engagement through the provision of the facilities for a high-quality focused temporary exhibition programme. This will also enable the Museum to more easily borrow objects or touring exhibitions from the national collections, expanding access to these collections for people in Dorset and enhancing the Museum’s appeal to repeat visitors.

The project will enable a greater understanding locally about what the Museum does, what it is and how people can become involved.

The physical changes to the front of the Museum will improve its visibility and street presence, creating a friendlier, more welcoming and more accessible environment for visitors The Museum will have an enhanced digital presence and accessibility to its collections and the capacity to maintain and develop this in the future.

Strengthen existing or create new partnerships that further develop the Museum as a hub and resource for other organisations.

We will have reviewed and expanded our membership scheme, increasing the number of people having an in-depth and regular engagement with the Museum.

2. Audience development - More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage • •

Ribbon weaving in an adult craft activity workshop at the Museum.

•

The Museum will increase annual visits from 40,000 to 80,000 Audience development will be focused around the improved temporary exhibition offer and informal learning programme More people who are visitors to the area will be attracted to the Museum as a fundamental part of Dorset’s attraction to the cultural tourist, and more people from hard-to-reach or non-traditional audiences will engage with the Museum

•

Additional staff capacity will be developed and sustained in order to deliver all of the above outcomes – particularly around learning, volunteer management and marketing

2. Collections and Building Maintenance - Your organisation will be more resilient / environmental impacts will be reduced •

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•

The Museum will develop a more diverse and sustainable range of income streams to support the ongoing care and maintenance of the collections and buildings.

The Museum building will be more environmentally sustainable, with facilities designed from the outset to be energy efficient, and within a rationalised and consolidated estate that is substantially more cost efficient to operate.

The Museum will be designed for growth, enabling the heritage collections to continue to be developed in the future.

3. Developing the business model - Your organisation will be more resilient / your local economy will be boosted •

• • •

The transformational impact of the project will create an organisation that can self-sustain increased levels of activity that the new museum will undertake.

Increased income generation opportunities from admissions, catering, retail and events will fundamentally uplift revenue levels A systematic approach to revenue fundraising, including relevant staff capacity, will be developed and embedded into the organisation The Museum will have an increased economic impact. Permanent jobs for Museum staff will be created, and temporary jobs during the development, design and construction process.

In the long-term, as a result of significantly more visitors to the Museum, the local economy will be boosted through increased spending and economic activity in Dorset by cultural tourists.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 13

Part One : Background

1.5 Project Development This study builds on a process of reflection and consideration of the future of the Dorset County Museum by its staff and trustees over the past 3 ½ years. It has been clear for some time that action was needed to answer the challenges faced by the Museum.

In 2010, an outline feasibility study was commissioned from Montagu Evans, which examined the planning context for the Museum and concluded that a major transformational capital development project was both viable and the most desirable way forward.

Mrs Thomas Rackett by George Romney. Dating from c. 1768 it is one of Romney’s early works and one of the highlights of the Victorian Gallery.

In order to develop this thinking and the available options further, the study for this masterplan document was commissioned at the beginning of 2014. It is the result of 9-month process of research and development undertaken by the Director, Staff, Volunteers and trustees of the Museum, working with architects Carmody Groarke, strategic and business consultants Counterculture Partnership and cost consultants Jackson Coles. Counterculture also worked with Anne Millman Associates to provide additional consultation and market research with volunteers, stakeholders, visitors and non-visitors. The Museum also consulted widely with stakeholders concerning the possibilities of the Collections Discovery Centre project and the potential of the heritage in its collections.

These included: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Staff and volunteers pose with Sir David Attenborough following his visit to the natural history collections in 2011.

long-term resilience and sustainability of the Museum.

The study was required to provide a masterplan for the next decade of the Museum, which delivers the transformational change required in a way that is both effective and cost-effective, as well as being sustainable for both the organisation and the heritage in its care.

Dorset County Council West Dorset District Council Dorchester Town Council, Wessex Museums Partnership Bournemouth Natural Science Society The British Museum Natural History Museum Dorset Museums Advisor Dorset Museums Association Dorset History Centre Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership Jurassic Coast Trust UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Management Team Mencap Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Dementia Action Alliance

The Museum also secured support from Arts Council England to engage learning consultant Natalie Chambers to contribute to its thinking around learning provision.

This iterative process of project development ensured that emerging options were grounded in thinking about the desired outcomes for heritage, people, and the community, alongside considerations about the future

http://www.dorchester-tc.gov.uk/ http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/assets/downloads/Dorset_AONB_Partnership/ Management_Plan/chapter5-tourism.pdf 3 http://www.brewerysquare.com/index.cfm 4 https://www.dorsetforyou.com/charlesstreet 1 2

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Part One : Background 2. The Museum and its Context

2. The Museum and its Context This section provides an overview of the strategic and policy context for the Museum and the Collections Discovery Centre project. It provides the strategic vision for the Museum, the demographic and social context of Dorchester, Dorset and the wider South West, and the range of existing policies, partnerships and funding priorities to which our project will contribute.

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Part One : Background 2. The Museum and its Context 2.1 Dorset County Museum Dorset County Museum is an independent museum and one of the county’s pre-eminent cultural and heritage organisations. It has been owned and managed by the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (DNHAS - an educational charity with over 1800 members) since 1928, with financial revenue support from Dorset County Council (DCC) and West Dorset District Council (WDDC).

The Museum was founded in 1845 as the Dorset County Museum and Library. It had a number of homes until it moved into the present purpose-designed building, which was completed in 1883. Since then there have been a number of additions and alterations to the building resulting in its current rambling and disjointed layout.

High West Street Elevation - Dorset County Museum

and display material objects that will enable people to have a better understanding of the history and culture of Dorset .

2.3 Wider Social Context: Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland, Dorset and South West England Dorchester Located in the south of the county, Dorchester is the County Town of Dorset. An historic market town able to trace its origins back to the Iron Age, it currently has a population of 19,143 (mid-2012 estimate). 5 • • •

23% of the town’s population is over 65 (compared with the national average of 17%) 21% of the population is in the 20-40 age range (national average 26%) 15% of the town’s population (3,000 out of 19,000) is in receipt of housing/council tax benefit 5.8% of the population are from BME backgrounds (2011 census) 6

The original objective of the Museum was to acquire local artefacts that were at risk from the threat posed to the heritage of Dorset’s archaeology and landscape by the arrival of the railways, creeping industrialisation and urbanisation. Since that time the original objectives have been significantly broadened and are now:

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ACORN classification 7

% of Dorchester population

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The advancement of education for the general benefit of the public in the areas of archaeology, natural history, literature, music, the fine and decorative arts, antiquities and local history.

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The acquisition, preservation, conservation, exhibition and development of collections in these areas, specifically relating to the significant and important heritage of Dorset.

Wealthy achievers Urban prosperity Comfortably off Moderate means Hard pressed Unclassified

14.7 % 17.4 % 38.4 % 14.8 % 14.3 % 0.4 %

To promote these objectives the DNHAS continues to maintain its Museum and contributes to the education of a wide range of audiences by exhibitions, publications, contributions to academic journals, facilitating access to its collections for research, organising lectures, visits and outings, use of the buildings by outside bodies for relevant activities and by the recording and conservation of Dorset’s heritage.

2.2 Strategic aims for Dorset County Museum As set out in the DNHAS Forward Plan 2012-16, the aims for the Museum during this period are twofold: •

To be the premier independent multi-disciplinary museum in the region

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To completely refurbish the facilities for the storage and presentation of its collections, whilst maintaining a balanced budget, in order to develop

The headline ACORN classification breakdown for the town is as follows:

Weymouth and Portland Weymouth is an important port and holiday destination, which is separated from Dorchester by just 6.5 miles and the dramatic landscape of the South Dorset Ridgway. The symbiotic relationship between the two towns, together with the Island of Portland, effectively produces a large and rapidly growing urban area of over 100,000 people, for which the Museum is a major cultural provider.

As the figures below demonstrate Portland in particular has a demographic which is much less affluent than Dorset as a whole, with 66% of its population either of ‘moderate means’ or ‘hard pressed’.

ACORN classification 8

% of Weymouth population

Wealthy achievers Urban prosperity Comfortably off Moderate means Hard pressed Unclassified

21.7 % 12.4 % 30.5 % 16.5 % 19.3 % 0.1 %

Dorset County Museum November 2014 16

Part One : Background 2. The Museum and its Context ACORN classification 9 Wealthy achievers Urban prosperity Comfortably off Moderate means Hard pressed Unclassified

% of Portland population 4.2 % 7.4 % 20.3% 51.3 % 16.8 % 0.0 %

Dorset

The Victorian Gallery, architectural centrepiece of George Crickmay’s 1883 Museum building.

The county of Dorset comprises the non-metropolitan county, which is governed by DCC, and the unitary authorities of Poole and Bournemouth. Covering an area of 2,653 square kilometers (1,024 sq mi), Dorset borders Devon to the west, Somerset to the northwest, Wiltshire to the north-east, and Hampshire to the east. After the re-organisation of local government in 1974 the county’s border was extended eastward to incorporate the Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch. Around half of the population lives in the South East Dorset conurbation, while the rest of the county, with the exception of the Dorchester and Weymouth area, is largely rural with a low population density.

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26% of the county’s (DCC area) population is over 65 (compared with the national average of 17%)

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18% of the population is in the 20-40 age range (national average 26%)

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4.5% of the DCC area’s population are from BME backgrounds (2011 census) 10

The headline ACORN classification breakdown for the county (DCC area) reveals the county to be prosperous with high percentage of wealthy/comfortably off and is as follows: ACORN classification Wealthy achievers

Urban prosperity Comfortably off

Moderate means Hard pressed Unclassified

% of Dorset (DCC) population 40.1 % 7.1 % 33.2 % 9.2 % 10.2 % 0.2 %

South West England View west across the Museum rooftops from the adjacent church tower.

South West England is one of nine official regions of England. It is the largest such region in area, covering 9,200 square miles (23,828 km2) and comprises Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The size of the region is shown by the fact that the northern

Gloucestershire is as close to the Scottish border as it is to the tip of Cornwall. The largest city is Bristol.

Other major urban centres include Plymouth, Swindon, Gloucester, Exeter, Bath, and the South East Dorset conurbation of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch.

All counties include at least one unitary authority or are unitary authorities themselves, as is the case with Cornwall and the Unitary Authority of Bristol.

The South West’s population density in mid-2010 was 221 people per sq. km, compared with the UK and England densities of 257 and 401 respectively. The figure is the lowest among English regions, but above that of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland The South West had a population of 5.3 million in mid2010, an increase of 6.7 per cent since 2001, compared with an increase of 5.3 per cent for the UK over the same period.

People aged 65 and over in 2010 made up 19.6 per cent of the population, compared with 17.6 per cent for the under-16s. This indicates an older population than the UK (16.6 and 18.6 per cent respectively). 11 2.4 Wider Policy and Partnership Context 2.4.1 Dorset County Council Dorset County Council (DCC) is the county council of Dorset and provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils.

DCC’s Adult and Community Services Directorate is responsible for Archives and Museums. The majority of the annual budget for Archives and Museums goes to the Council’s own Archives service, with grants made to several independent museum trusts to deliver museum services on DCC’s behalf according to the provisions of annually negotiated service level agreements.

The Museum receives grant aid from DCC on this basis. This, however, has been cut by over 50% (from £120,000 down to £58,000) between 2010 and 2013.

DCC’s Environment directorate is responsible for the County’s archaeology. The UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Management Team also sits within this department of the Council.

2.4.2 Jurassic Coast: Dorset and East Devon UNESCO World Heritage Site The Jurassic Coast is England’s first natural World Heritage Site, covering 95 miles of coastline, displaying 185 million years of the Earth’s history and

Dorset County Museum November 2014 17

Part One : Introduction 2. The Museum and its Context incorporating coastal towns such as Lyme Regis and Bridport and ‘gateway towns’ like Dorchester.

World Heritage status was achieved because the coast provides a unique insight into Earth Sciences. It shows a geological ‘walk through time’, spanning the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

The responsibility for management of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site lies with a broad, locally based Partnership, which includes the Museum alongside a range of other public and third sector organisations with a role in heritage, natural history and conservation.

Dorset County Museum’s strategic role within the Jurassic Coast is twofold. Firstly to collect and preserve in public ownership significant paleontological and geological specimens collected from along the coast and to make these accessible for research and education. Secondly to act as an orientation centre for the coast, interpreting its heritage for the public and helping visitors make informed decisions about which coastal sites to visit, and to support the provision of a formal education offer for schools and colleges. This project will greatly enhance our ability to undertake both these strategic functions.

2.4.3 Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership Since 2010 the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership (JCMP) has brought together the nine museums in Dorset and Devon that are located along the Jurassic Coast WHS, and have significant holdings of geological material, to work together in areas of mutual interest.

Aerial sketch of the existing site looking North.

Consolidating Museum

Consolidating Museum into one location. into one location

These have included acquisition projects and collecting strategy, gallery design and interpretation, professional development and training, and learning and outreach activities. In 2013/14 with funding from Arts Council England the JCMP was able to improve the displays in a number of museums, including DCM, along with a major family learning programme and the development of a web resource to provide digital access to almost 1,000 of the most significant specimens held in JCMP collections. Ultimately over half of the specimens digitised in this initiative came from DCM’s collection, demonstrating the importance of our collections in the context of the JCMP’s holdings.

By working within the JCMP the Museum has been able to contribute to a collective understanding of the needs for future geological collecting, research and conservation in Dorset and to provide a coordinated response to those needs. This development of the Museum will equip us to continue our strategic role in this partnership, ensuring our project provides benefits

for the museum sector across Dorset.

2.4.4 Wessex Museums Partnership The Wessex Museums Partnership (WMP) was created in 2012 to bring together DCM with Wiltshire Museum and Salisbury Museum. This was seen as vital due to the complimentary nature of their prehistoric archaeological collections, which together contextualise and help explain the civilisation, which once settled between Stonehennge and Avebury in Wiltshire and Maiden Castle and Hengistbury Head in Dorset. It was also strategically important due to the similar models of governance shared by the partners and the potential for shared learning.

With support from ACE this partnership in its first phase was able to undertake work on retail and business development, energy efficiency, audience development and marketing, and an archaeological collections review.

For 2014/15 the WMP was awarded further funding from ACE to support temporary exhibitions, adapt formal learning offers to the requirements of the revised national curriculum and undertake a collections review for natural history.

Since that time the WMP has expanded with the addition of additional partners in Poole Museum and the Russell Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. This has enabled the partnership to bid for ACE Museums Resilience Fund money for 2014/15 to strengthen the partner museums capacity for capital and revenue fundraising and to develop a credible cultural tourism offer for the WMP. By working within the WMP the Museum has been able to contribute to a collective understanding of the needs for future archaeological collecting in Dorset and Wiltshire, and to provide a co-ordinated response to these needs. The Museum can now also develop an improved interpretation of its natural history collection.

Lastly, it has helped the Museum to evaluate its core audience and learning role which has fundamentally informed DCM’s future planning.

2.4.5 Dorchester Area Schools Partnership The Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP) came into being in 1992. Its mission is to provide the best education for all the students who are educated in the Dorchester area. It comprises 19 schools - 13 First, 3 Middle, 1 Upper, an independent Prep school and a Learning Centre.

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Part One : Introduction 2. The Museum and its Context By working with the professionals within DASP, the Museum has been able to understand fully the evolving needs of the National Curriculum and the physical and intellectual requirements demanded from a formal museum education offer by schools in both the immediate area, but also across Dorset. This has influenced our development project in both the evolution of its architectural requirements and the learning activity plan.

collections with grants to the Tank Museum at Bovington, the Etches Collection at Kimmeridge and the Russell Cotes Art Gallery in Bournemouth. It is yet to support with a major grant the infrastructure to support the collection at DCM that conserves the overall heritage of the county as a whole, although it has supported the smaller museum collections of individual communities in Wimborne, Lyme Regis, and Bridport.

2.4.6 Heritage Lottery Fund

Over recent years, DCM has directly received awards from HLF for the following successful projects:

The HLF aims to “sustain and transform a wide range of heritage through innovative investment in projects with a lasting impact on people and places.” HLF is the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, with around £375million a year to invest in new projects.

HLF offers a range of different grant programmes with grants from £3,000 to over £5million. Funding decisions are based on the outcomes for heritage, people and communities that projects will achieve.

All HLF funding programmes expect projects to achieve one or more outcomes in each of these areas: Outcomes for heritage Heritage will be: • Better managed • In better condition • Better interpreted and explained • Identified / recorded Outcomes for people People will have: • Developed skills • Learnt about heritage • Changed their attitudes and/or behaviour • Had an enjoyable experience • Volunteered time Outcomes for communities • Environmental impacts will be reduced • More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage • Your local area/community will be a better place to live, work or visit • Your local economy will be boosted • Your organisation will be more resilient In the South West the HLF has recently provided major capital funding for comparable county museum collections and services in Devon (Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter), Somerset (Museum of Somerset, Taunton), Cornwall (Kersen Kernow, Redruth) and Gloucester (Gloucester City Museum and Art Gallery). In Dorset it has supported specialist

•

•

•

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Jurassic Coast Gallery: The re-display of the museums paleontology collection in a gallery that acts as a major heritage centre for people visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site (2008) Hardy’s Wessex Sprung to Life: The acquisition of the collection of the late James Stevens Cox relating to the Hardy Players for Dorset County Museum thus creating a coherent collection relating to the Hardy Players in Dorchester. (2010) Our Sporting Life: Lead by DCM and developed in partnership with Dorset History Centre and Poole Museum, this project created a pan-Dorset celebration of community sporting heritage in Dorset to mark the staging of the Olympic sailing in Dorset (2012) Mabel Stobart: A Dorset Woman At War. A major exhibition and event programme at which told the amazing story of Mabel Stobart, a Dorset woman who led a women’s volunteer medical team to Serbia during the First World War (2014)

This proposed project is the subject of a Heritage Grants application, Stage 1 of which will be submitted in December 2014.

2.4.7 Arts Council England Arts Council England “champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives” and supports a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries.

• • •

Designation Development Fund (2014-16) Strategic Support Fund (latest round 2014-15) Museum Resilience Fund (latest round 2014-15)

DCM is a member of the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership, which was awarded £180,000 in 2013/14 as part of the Renaissance Strategic Support Fund (RSSF).

The Museum is also part Wessex Museums Partnership along with the Wiltshire Museum and Salisbury Museum. In 2012/13 the partnership received £180,000 from the RSSF followed by a further £120,000 from the RSSF in 2014/15.

ACE directly funds and supports museum learning through the Renaissance programme and the Department for Education (DfE) funded Museums and Schools programme. In each region, ACE funded Bridge organisations are working to support closer relationships between schools and the cultural sector, including museums.

ACE is responsible for the nationwide museum Accreditation Scheme.

In April 2014 Dorset County Museum’s status as a fully Accredited museum was renewed by ACE following the routine renewal cycle. This level of award is given to museums reaching a set of nationally agreed standards including meeting users’ needs and expectations, driving improvement forward and working with other organisations. The status is valid for three years, after which the Museum will need to demonstrate that it is continuing to improve and to meet all the main management and service objectives whilst maintaining the highest levels of collections care. This project is central to our strategy to improve our collections care standards and meet the expectations of our visitors, volunteers and users.

ACE’s aims, to be achieved through their support for organisations, is set out in its current strategy: •

Achieving Great Art and Culture for Everyone, Arts Council England ten-year framework for the arts, 2010-2020 (revised 2013)

ACE funding for museums is distributed through its Renaissance funding programme, comprising the following strands: •

Major Partner Museums (2012-15)

https://www.dorsetforyou.com/343563 All statistics available at https://www.dorsetforyou.

7-9 ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK’s population, which segments small neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer h moderate means and hard pressed are shown above. https://www.dorsetforyou.com/343563 com/343563 10 All statistics available at https://www.dorsetforyou.com/343563 11 http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/region-and-country-profiles/ key-statistics-and-profiles---august-2012/key-statistics---south-west-august-2012.htm 12 http://jurassiccoast.org/conserving-the-coast/managing-the-site/partners 6 6

Dorset County Museum November 2014 19

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation

3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation This section describes the significance of the heritage that the project will benefit. It outlines the importance of our collections and details the need for change in terms of collections management facilities and resources, access, displays and interpretation. This section has been prepared through extensive consultation with our teams of specialist volunteers who have advised on the collections management needs and the opportunities for improving the display and interpretation of the collections. The heritage outcomes the project provides, which are detailed in Section 5, are based on the work and analysis presented here. A summary bringing together all proposed interpretation and display approaches, developed from staff and volunteer workshops, is included as Appendix J.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 20

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.1 Our Heritage Collections The Museum was founded in 1845 as the Dorset County Museum and Library. Established at the initiative of the social reformer and inventor, Henry Moule, and the polymath teacher and poet, William Barnes, it brought together a wide range of antiquarians, naturalists and amateur scientists. Together they began to assemble a wide range of objects at the Museum, particularly focusing on aspects of Dorset’s heritage they felt to be at risk ‘from the march of progress’ in Victorian England.

Collections in storage 98.5%

Collections on display 1.5%

Today many elements of the Museum’s collection are considered to be of national and international importance. The archaeology collection holds material heritage from iconic sites such as Maiden Castle, Hambledon Hill, Dewlish Roman Villa and Maumbury Rings. Consequently it is of fundamental importance to our understanding of both Dorset and the prehistoric archaeology of Northern Europe more generally. Our geology collection is the largest single assembly of material from the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and includes specimens found by some of the discipline’s founders – Anning, Arkell and Fisher. It foregrounds 185 million years of history and helped underpin the scientific breakthroughs that have made the Dorset and East Devon coastline a place of outstanding universal value.13 Our natural history collection includes vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, entomology and botany, a unique snapshot of the Dorset environment in the 19th century. Its greater significance lies outside the museum, however, as it was largely either collected by or used by some of the most significant natural scientists of the day, including Darwin, Russel-Wallace, James Buckman and Octavius Pickard-Cambridge.

Percentage of collections on display

Non-Public 2415 sq m

Controlled Access: 77 sq m

Public 1475 sq m

Total Area: 3967 sq m

Comparison between areas of public, non-public and controlled access space

The Museum had a number of homes in Dorset before it moved into the present purpose-built Museum, which was completed in 1883. In the early days of the Museum, as well as local artefacts, a wide variety of ‘curios’ were also collected from a number of sources around the world. However, the Museum took on the more serious role of collecting anything to do with Dorset “below, on or above the ground, in the past and often in the present” from the turn of the twentieth century and there has been a steady accumulation of specimens since that time.

Of equal significance are the literary collections of the Museum, especially the archive of Thomas Hardy. It is the largest Hardy collection in the world and Hardy himself remains a literary figure of international importance. Read and studied extensively in schools, colleges and universities globally, the Museum’s collection is in continually great demand

by researchers and always popular with our visitors – which in 2012 lead to its inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World register for British documentary heritage of great cultural significance and ‘outstanding universal value ’.14 The Museum’s collections are now an outstanding heritage resource and are constantly evolving as new material is regularly added, including the latest finds from archaeological digs, treasure finds, contemporary collecting and geological specimens revealed by rock falls. Therefore, and in keeping with the original Victorian objectives for the Museum, the aim of the collection remains to preserve and continue to build up a unique resource of Dorset’s heritage, places and people for future generations to study and enjoy .

However, as this section details, the Museum faces a raft of major challenges which threaten its ability to care for the collections properly and provide access and interpretation for it range of users from visitors to specialist researchers.

The challenges range from cramped and inadequate storage, lack of proper environmental controls, and lack of space for basic conservation and research, to a lack of display space. As a result, collections are absent from the galleries and other important heritage stories remain untold.

The remainder of Section 3 provides: • •

13 14

An overview of the significance of each of the collections An analysis of current practice and the urgent need for change with regard to collections management, conservation, access and interpretation

http://jurassiccoast.org/ http://www.unesco.org.uk/2012_uk_memory_of_the_world_register

Dorset County Museum November 2014 21

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Geology

20,500 objects

3.2.1 Geology

Natural History

219,000 objects

“The rock and fossil collection held by the Dorset County Museum reflects the diversity of the fossil fauna and geology of Dorset. The invertebrate collection is particularly strong, with a range of quite extraordinary specimens and many type and figured specimens.”

Dr Richard Edmonds Earth Science Manager, UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site

Archaeology

Literature

3,000,000 objects

The Museum’s first geological specimens, an ichthyosaur (DORCM G.1) and a pliosaur paddle (DORCM G.2) were acquired directly from the pioneering fossil hunter Mary Anning. Her discoveries of ichthyosaurus, plesiosaurs and pterosaurs from the Dorset cliffs that now form the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site were key pieces of evidence for extinction and the theory of the ‘age of reptiles’.

Since that time, over 150 years of collecting has seen the compilation of over 20,000 specimens from across Dorset.

71,350 objects

These collections reflect the work of pioneering geologists in Dorset – such as William Smith and Osmond Fisher – and together the material they contribute to science helps underpin fundamental principles of geological stratigraphy, geomorphology, continental drift and Jurassic palaeontology.

Social History

Fine and Decorative Art

93,000 objects

Fine Art 8,000 objects Decorative Art 1,500 objects

Costume and Textiles

5,000 objects

These internationally significant geological and paleontological collections also contain 24 holotype specimens – the single physical example of an organism, used when the species was first formally described. These include the recently identified species Goniopholis kiplini and Pliosaurus kevani – the latter being better known as the Weymouth Bay pliosaur, believed to be the most powerful prehistoric marine reptile ever discovered.

The collections also contain important vertebrate material, especially so for the Purbeck Limestone Formation. The Corallian collections are also of interest, having been used by W. J. Arkell for the Palaeontographical Society monographs, and there are also significant holdings of dinosaur trackway material.

3.2.2 Natural History

“A regionally important collection containing many wonderful specimens, with unexpected connections to scientific discoveries of global importance.”

Professor Andy Fleet Deputy Head of Science, Natural History Museum

Dorset County Museum began collecting natural history specimens in the 1840s. Possibly the most important specimens are those contained within the Alfred Russel Wallace collection of bird skins.

Although of foreign origin, being collected by Wallace on his expeditions to the Malay archipelago during the 1850s , these specimens were significant in helping him independently develop the theory of evolution through natural selection – a critical breakthrough that convinced Darwin he must publish his own theory as expressed in On the Origin of Species. They are also part of the expeditions that were written up in Wallace’s book, The Malay Archipelago – which is regarded as one of the 19th century’s greatest journals of scientific exploration.

The Museum’s natural history collections donated

by Professor James Buckman in the 1870s are also of great significance. Buckman developed radical botanical experiments at the Royal Agricultural College, the results of which Darwin drew upon and praised in On the Origin of Species in 1859 . In October 1863 Buckman moved to farm at Bradford Abbas in Dorset, at which time he also joined the Museum ultimately donating it his collections. Alongside the herbarium, vertebrate and invertebrate zoology collections is one of the earliest known surviving copies of On the Origin of Species. This rare first edition has a letter from Darwin bound inside it which acknowledge Buckman’s role in, and support for, Darwin’s research and the importance of Buckman’s specimens in helping him reach his conclusions.

Other collections tell the natural history of Dorset’s diverse range of habitats, flora and fauna. These include the Mansel Pleydell herbarium collected between the 1860s and the 1890s, the Richardson entomological collection containing type material acquired in the 1930s, the Day collection of insects (acquired 1952), and aquatic specimens collected as part of the three Dorset Underwater Surveys of 1978/79.

3.2.3 Archaeology

“Dorset is rich in archaeological remains, containing a wealth of evidence for human activity stretching back to the last Ice Age… given a history of collecting going back nearly 200 years it is therefore unsurprising that the Museum’s collection is world class, having both national and international significance.”

Dr Martin Smith Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University

The archaeological collections at the Museum are a unique and vital resource for research and are of outstanding significance in the study of Northern Europe, particularly the prehistoric and Roman collections. The only English Heritage approved store for the deposition of archaeology in Dorset, the Museum’s collection contains approximately 3 million archaeological finds including metalwork, pottery, bone, wood , shale, glass, lead and stone objects relating to the history of Dorset from the pre-historic to post-medieval periods.

A significant amount of material in our collection is connected with pioneering excavations in Dorset by General Augustus Pitt-Rivers, William Cunnington and Sir Morimer Wheeler. These are therefore objects that are not only significant in their own right, but were discovered during archaeological excavations that played a fundamental role in the development of the science and techniques of modern archaeology as a global discipline.

Furthermore, the archaeological collections at DCM comprise a great many artefacts and assemblages from what are classified as important typesites – those sites that are considered to be models for understanding people’s activities at a point in the past. In Dorset these are especially important for underpinning our understanding of prehistoric archaeology and include the Neolithic ‘causewayed enclosures’ at Hambledon Hill; the Bronze Age Wessex Culture gold lozenge and finery from Clandon Barrow ; the 7th century BC ceramic assemblage excavated by Sir Barry Cuncliffe at Eldon’s Seat; and remains of an Iron Age roundhouse discovered at Pimperne.

Other significant elements within the collection include finds from the great Iron Age hill fort at Maiden Castle, largely complete pavement floors and the remains from the Town House that demonstrates the importance of Dorchester as a centre for the production of mosaics in Roman Britain, and objects from burial sites along the length of the South Dorset Ridgeway – a ridge of high land running parallel with the coast, between Weymouth and Dorchester - which has clearly been an important place for people since the Neolithic era. Indeed, with its concentration of over 1,000 monuments into an ancient ceremonial landscape of great significance, this is an area of Dorset, and an archaeological collection, considered by many experts to be as important as Stonehenge and Avebury for revealing the lives of our prehistoric ancestors.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.2.4 Literary Collections

“Thomas Hardy is a Dorchester lad turned international literary star second only to Shakespeare… the only other author in the English language who wrote in four different genres: novel, poetry, drama and short-stories. The Hardy collection at the Museum, in my eyes, is the jewel in the Dorset’s crown.”

Professor Rosemarie Morgan President, Thomas Hardy Association Vice President, The Thomas Hardy Society

An iconic image of Thomas Hardy cycling in Dorchester c.1910 from the photographic collection in the Hardy archive.

The Bronze Age gold lozenge discovered by William Cunnington at Clandon Barrow, near Martinstown, Dorset

The Museum’s literary collections are formed mainly of books, manuscripts, papers and letters but also include small numbers of personal items, furniture, ephemera and other effects. These collections reflect the importance of Dorset’s major authors in the cultural heritage of the county.

Dorset-born Thomas Hardy OM was a writer and poet of global renown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, creator of 14 novels including the iconic Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge. The universal themes of Hardy’s writing include time, love, loss, nature, place and war.

Whilst chronicling the traditional culture of rural Dorset and surrounding area, he writes of the impact of new ideas, scientific discoveries, and social mobility on this previously unchanging world. Hardy questions inequality, injustice and hypocrisy and many other concerns which still resonate with modern readers.

Containing a total of 8,300 items, the collection was presented to the Museum directly from the Hardy family in 1937. There are many original manuscripts, including the original handwritten manuscripts for three novels and two volumes of poetry. A collection of Hardy’s correspondence contains about 5,000 letters, and his study has been reconstructed, with furniture including his writing desk and pens, and much of his library of books, all of which (even the fireplace) came from his final home, Max Gate in Dorchester. The largest collection of Hardy material in the world, and in constant demand from students and researchers, in 2012 its significance was recognised by inscription on the UNESCO Memory of the World register of important archives.

“Probably the most interesting link between present and past forms of rural life that England possesses… a distinguished Victorian, who became a poet of national, not just of Dorset significance.”

Professor Chris Wrigley Professor of Modern History, University of Nottingham Our other major literary collection is that relating to the poet, linguist, polymath and teacher William Barnes. Containing 1,500 items it demonstrates the manner in which Barnes is probably the only writer to re-create in his work the way in which the rural working people spoke. His collection of research papers and notebooks, the only collection of significance in existence, records Dorset’s customs, traditions and daily life - encapsulating the social history of an entire English social class over almost three centuries.

Other notable literary collections are concerned with John Meade Falkner, the Powys family, Hope Muntz and Sylvia Townsend Warner. Of this group, it is possibly the collection of Townsend Warner that today holds most significance. The assemblage of diaries, correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, reviews, clippings, and photographs sheds tremendous light on both her writing, and her relationship with her lover Valentine Ackland. Together their work has been described as ‘an inspiring model of romantic, literary and political engagement’ and in the 1930s arguably changed the way unmarried women are represented in fiction.

3.2.5 Social History The social history collection at Dorset County Museum contains over 10,000 objects relating to trade, transport, fishing, smuggling, schooling, popular belief, domestic life, rural crafts, industry and agriculture in the county of Dorset since the beginning of the 19th century.

The Skyrme collection of agricultural tools and domestic implements forms the basis of these collections and was donated to the Museum in 1970.

Other notable items in the social history collection include two Dorset farm wagons, the Hayden Princess – a 1901 Marshall 7HP general purpose steam traction engine - and a butcher’s cart.

Because of the need to illuminate the life and environment of the people of Dorset, care has been taken to acquire objects for the social history collection only where good evidence of their use exists and where full provenances are available in regard to the objects use, production or association with Dorset people, institutions or places.

3.2.6 Fine and Decorative Art

“The value and importance of the Museum’s fine and decorative art lie in their diversity… these exciting collections range far beyond the boundaries of Dorset and the West Country, and underline the Museum’s position as a major regional centre.”

Dr Paul Atterbury BBC Antiques Roadshow The fine art collection consists of oils, watercolours, drawings, prints, and sculpture. The diverse range of visual material reflects the evolution of an art collection acquired over 150 years. Dating from the 17th century to the present it shows Dorset’s history, people, natural history and landscape. Dorset has long been a source of artistic inspiration and attracted visiting artists such as John Constable, Paul Nash and Frederick Whitehead. Others were either born in the county or came to live here such as Sir James Thornhill, Thomas Beach, Alfred Stevens, Henry Moule, and Reynolds Stone, all represented in the collection. We also have collections of the studio work of Elsie Barling, Mabel Wickham, John Everett and Alfred Stevens, as well as personal collections featuring the work of Alfred Wallis and Christopher Wood.

To these artists should also be added the work of Dorset-based sculptors such as Elizabeth Frink , Mary Spencer Watson and Elizabeth Muntz, and those who were inspired by visiting the county such as John Skeaping. They too are reflected in our collection, where it can clearly be seen how they have drawn inspiration from the Dorset’s wealth of characters, stories and raw materials (notably Purbeck and Portland stone) to create a unique and atmospheric body of work.

The range of decorative and applied arts includes Dorset pottery, ceramics, glassware and metalwork made in Dorset or by Dorset craftsmen. There is engraved glasswork by Laurence Whistler. An important Coalbrookdale mantelpiece by Alfred Stevens, “Dorset’s Michelangelo”, demonstrates the quality of his award winning industrial designs in the mid-nineteenth century. The collection of clocks, watches and barometers are of Dorset makers or manufacturers.

Vernacular furniture and collections of musical instruments have distinctive Dorset associations.

There is a small collection of ceramics with fascinating connections to the county.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 23

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.2.7 Costume and Textiles

“The collection includes many significant items of historical textiles and dress from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. These are not only magnificent works worthy of a national collection, but through their provenances offer direct links to Dorset’s history.”

Dr Susan North Curator of Textile and Fashion V&A Museum

The Costume and Textiles collection contains wide ranging and varied collections linked to Dorset history, as well as objects of national and international significance. The earliest objects date from the 16th century and the collection includes samplers, quilts, lace, Dorset buttons, Dorset featherstitch, sunbonnets, smocks, shoes, occupational clothing and fashionable dress.

A traditional embroidered Dorset smock.

Highlights include one of the largest collections of smocks in the UK, many of which can be provenanced to Dorset shepherds and rural workers. The Dorset Button collection is one of the most significant in the country and the finely decorated christening pincushions dating from the 17th to 19th century provide a moving insight into family life.

3.2.8 Library and Dorset Photographic Record Dorset County Museum’s library contains over 30,000 books on subjects relating to archaeology, geology, natural history, geography, Dorset writers, social history and local studies. In addition the Dorset Photographic Record contains over 50,000 prints, 20,000 negatives, 12,000 slides and 5,000 glass plates. These date from the earliest days of photography to the present day and cover a wide range of Dorset specific places, people, scenes and notable events. Significant photographers featured in the collection include Harry Pouncy, Francis Frith and Charles Cornish-Browne.

The library also contains a considerable archive collection of maps and plans, printed ephemera, transcripts from the National Archives (including papers by Pope and Fry) and pamphlets relating to local subjects and Dorset people, as well as biological and geological field notebooks, archaeological excavation reports and academic research papers.

In addition the library collection also has long running subscriptions to archaeological and history societies’ publications, academic journals and newspapers, many of which are unavailable elsewhere within the region.

The Thomas Hardy costume archive includes Hardy’s embroidered christening robe, his mother’s treasured paisley shawl, his sister’s red silk bustle dress and his striped scarf lent to the gardener. Many of these objects link closely to manuscripts and photographs in the Thomas Hardy archive and will be exhibited in the proposed Thomas Hardy: Fashion, Fact and Fiction exhibition.

The collection also includes many significant items of historical fashionable dress such as a rare brocaded man’s coat, an 18th century sack-back gown, Victorian crinolines and 20th century tailored suits, all with Dorset provenance. The sampler collection spans four hundred years and 17th century raised work boxes, coifs and cuffs show fine examples of embroidery and imaginative animal, bird and insect designs.

An 1859 first edition of On the Origin of Species, presented to James Buckman by Charles Darwin

Due to the delicate nature of textiles, at present the Museum’s facilities and environment mean that they can only be put on display for short periods and are rarely seen by the public unless part of a temporary exhibition.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.3 Collections: Management, display and interpretation - where we are now 3.3.1 Introduction and SWOT overview Collections management and conservation practice varies across the Museum’s collections, in part dictated by facilities and capacity.

Strengths Objects of national quality, such as the neolithic Jade Axe Head found by farmworkers at Newton Peverill in 1880s.

Weaknesses Typical examples of current sub optimal archive conditions, 5-6 Colliton street.

The majority of the Museum’s collections are kept in a range of places across the site. Various rooms and buildings are in use for the purpose of storage, many of which are not compatible with modern requirements for collections management. The analysis reveals a widespread lack of environmental controls, which in some cases threatens the survival of the collections and cramped conditions with limited space for conservation and other essential collections management work. In many cases there is inadequate space to allow access for the number of volunteers required to work on the collections, while ambitions for greater access through digitisation is also hampered by the lack of space and basic facilities.

The nature of the display, interpretation and access to each collection varies. Each collection needs a different approach and offers a range of opportunities to draw out aspects of the stories that the Museum seeks to tell. Some, such as the important Natural History collection have no gallery presence at all.

Others such as Fine Art are used in an ad hoc and opportunistic way where space allows, while those such as Geology and Social History have displays that focus on specific parts of the collection at the expense of other important stories.

A common aspiration across all the collections is for digital access – both to catalogues and selected objects – which is currently not possible because of a lack of space and capacity. This limits the Museum’s ability to pursue a range of audience development activities beyond on-site audiences, and limits possibilities to share and disseminate objects not on permanent display.

Opportunities People of all ages engaging with the collections

Threats Poor quality storage conditions, Craft Market building

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Collections management: SWOT analysis

Collections management SWOT analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Collections • Breadth and national / international importance of the collection provides an outstanding resource.

• Holdings of particular importance in Literature, Geology, Archaeology and Natural History.

• Dynamic archaeological collection; only store for deposition approved by EH in the County.

• Natural history collection provides unique C19th snapshot of natural Dorset, some specimens relating to Darwin’s research • Diversity of Social History and Art Collections • Scale of collections.

Collections management • Sub-optimal storage conditions of number of collections • Lack of space for conservation and cataloguing • Lack of space for research and study • Lack of space/facilities for photography/ digitisation • Some catalogues not networked due to IT issues across multiple sites • Disparate nature of collections, spread over a number of buildings and sites • Lack of resources for collections management materials • Access to some collections for all purposes is severely constrained

Interpretations and display • Ability of collections to tell the holistic story of Dorset.

• Recent investment if Geology (Paleontology) Gallery and forthcoming investment in Archaeology Gallery.

Interpretations and display • Small proportion of the collections on display; no natural history; limited amount of fine and decorative art, costume and textiles, limited amount of geology (aside from paleontology) • Social History collection displays limited to agriculture • A number of key Dorset stories are untold, for example the development of the unique landscape, its relationship between landscape and the natural world, political history of the county.

Opportunities

Threats

Collections • Improve conditions in which the collections are kept to remove risk of damage • Provide space for conservation, and collections management to take place • Digitisation of important elements of collection • Development of online collections to augment physical displays • Bringing together of collections and catalogues so that standards are uniform across the collections

Collections • Risk of damage to collections stored in poor conditions.

• Risk to the collections from the lack of space and facilities to undertake basic conservation work.

• Risk to the recognition of the collections due to restricted access for research, both by volunteers and visiting researchers.

• Lack of storage space risks future important collections being lost to the museum (e.g. Geology) • Risk of Social History collection becoming static as no room for contemporary collecting.

• Library at risk of damage due to sub optimal conditions of some storage.

Interpretations and display • Dedicated space for Fine & Decorative Arts and Costume and Textiles (Creative Dorset) • Dedicated space to explore Natural Dorset (Natural History and Geology) • Greater use of wider range of collections to bring new stories to light (for example Social History only used to tell a specifically rural/agricultural story at the moment)

The adjacent collections management SWOT analysis summarises the Museum’s overall strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats with regard to the management and conservation of its collections.

Interpretations and display • Some interpretation dated and obsolete • Interpretation not always appropriate. for different levels of engagement / age of visitor.

• Significance of collections at risk of being hidden/ forgotten because of inadequate collections management and display.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 26

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation 3.3.2 Current practice, limitations and the need for change A detailed analysis of current practice in the Museum, its limitations and the needs and priorities for each collection has been undertaken, based on a series of collections workshops with museum staff and volunteers. Information captured from these workshops is summarised and analysed below for each part of the Museum’s collection.

4-5 Colliton St

St Peter’s Institute

4-5 Colliton St

St Peter’s Institute

Craft Market

Craft Market Stables

Stables

Brawne Extension

Victorian Gallery

Brawne Extension

Victorian Gallery

Geology Natural History Archaeology

Williams’ Building

Crickmay Building

Williams’ Building

Crickmay Building

Literature Social History Fine and Decorative Art Textiles and Costume

Ground floor

First floor

Admin / storage

Dorset County Museum November 2014 27

Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Geology and Paleontology Collections Management Location: The storage of the geology collection is split between two rooms in the main Museum adjacent to the Common Room and the ground floor of the craft market building.

Environment: There are no humidity controls in any of the stores and only inadequate temperature controls in the main Museum – often being too hot in the summer and too cool in winter. Geological artefacts stored at the wrong temperature and humidity, or in direct sunlight, can be susceptible to pyrite decay.

The Swanage Bay Crocodile (goniopholis kiplini) was discovered in 2009 and is a species new to science.

Access Working space is extremely limited, a single shared bench being all that is available. Work can be dirty but has to take place in the collection room, along with cataloguing, documentation, photography and other research work.

Conservation: Washing and cleaning specimens requires a sink, and an oven is needed for drying silica beads to manage humidity levels. In addition a large, strong table for examining specimens is required within the storage space. None of these facilities are available at present.

Catalogue: 14,000 (out of 20,000) specimens are on an MS Access database. Success in this area is directly linked to the fact that the collection is in the main building and on the server. Objects in the craft market are inaccessible and therefore have not been catalogued.

Digitisation: No separate facilities exist, but digitisation of 500 of the collection’s highlights was recently achieved by temporarily converting the common room into a studio.

Research: There are no research or laboratory facilities at present for a collection that is central to the UNESCO designation of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

International Paleontology researchers are asked to use the Common Room coffee table when making research visits.

Conditions in the current geology store in the main Museum.

Insufficient storage space, no working room and environmentally poor.

Staffing: 10 volunteers use the space 4 days a week. Lack of work space means there is at present a waiting list for volunteers wishing to join the geology collections management team.

Acquisition: There could be the possibility of receiving impressive and important private collections (e.g. the David Sole Lyme Regis and Charmouth collection) from donors if the museum could demonstrate it can provide the appropriate services and conditions. Equally, museums in the Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership that require capacity to store geological collections would like to explore the potential for storing them jointly in Dorchester. However in the current situation the museum cannot provide adequate space or environmental conditions to ensure artefacts will be appropriately maintained.

Integration: The geology team works well and is well integrated due to its location at the heart of the museum.

• • •

The meaning of the coast as a World Heritage Site – a living geology textbook The links between Dorset’s rich Geology and the natural environment, including SSSI’s The story of Dorset’s unique stones, Portland and Purbeck, in terms of quarrying, industry and architecture

See Outline Interpretation Proposals, Appendix J, for further information.

Need for change: • To create displays for non-paleontological material in a new gallery together with the Natural History collection, interpreting these stories in an integrated manner.

Need for change: • Light, temperature and humidity control required for housing collections.

• Greater access to the collections, particularly those in the craft market • Research facilities appropriate for a collection that is central to UNESCO designation of the Jurassic Coast WHS. • Facilities to receive private and museum reserve collections from the Jurassic Coast and to support public Geology and Paleontology collections.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: The Jurassic Coast Gallery. This is solely focused on Paleontology, having little space for wider geological perspectives, such as the heritage of Dorset’s role in the development of the science of geology, or the impact of geology on Dorset’s landscape, natural features and habitats.

Current interpretation: Interpretation focused on Paleontology. No opportunity to wider story of Dorset’s unique physical geology and how it has shaped all aspects of life and nature in the County.

Links with other collections: Natural History, Photography (highlights relating to the coast), Social History (industry, building, architecture) and Fine Art (topographical representations) Themes and stories that are currently untold: • The role of geology in the physical ‘shaping of Dorset’ • The story of the coastline and landscape, how iconic features such as Chesil Beach, Lulworth Cove, the Isle of Purbeck and Egdon Heath were created.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Natural History Collections Management Location: The vertebrate, invertebrate zoology, botany and spirit collections are stored in four small rooms in 4/5 Colliton Street, part of a small converted 18th century domestic cottage.

Environment: The Natural History stores are heated by central heating radiators, with no provision for cooling or air conditioning. There is limited control of relative humidity using portable de-humidifiers. This has resulted in ongoing problems with mould on herbarium specimens and taxidermy specimens.

Fritillary butterflies, part of a significant collection of invertebrate zoology that is largely inaccessible at present

Access: The limited physical access in rooms accessed by narrow corridors in a separate building result in risks to fragile objects when navigating the building.

Risks are also posed by the fact that objects must go outside in order to be moved to the main Museum.

These problems mean that the collection is typically only accessed once per week as present. In addition, uncontrolled off-gassing in unventilated rooms means that fumes from formaldehyde / ethanol preserved and mercury chloride treated Victorian specimens pose a potential health risk to volunteers working in the stores for any length of time.

Conservation: Conservation of specimens does not take place on site and there are no facilities to undertake basic interventions such as basic care of the herbarium and invertebrate zoology specimens. The Museum has been offered voluntary support by a local taxidermy expert, but there is no space to accommodate such work.

Catalogue: Contained in accession registers, card index files and in MS Access form on a single computer in Colliton Street not connected to Museum’s server.

Digitisation: No facilities for photographing / digitisation of works Research: No facilities to lay out or present objects for research either by staff, volunteers or visitors

The main vertebrate zoology storeroom in 4-5 Colliton St. Packed floor to ceiling and at risk from pest attack

Staffing: 4 volunteers but further recruitment hampered by poor physical access and working conditions for staff/ volunteers Acquisition:

No space or facilities to accommodate any additions to the collection. However, this collection is unlikely to grow in the future due to its nature, functioning more as a historical record.

Integration: Isolation of this collection is manifest in several ways: lone working restrictions and not feeling part of the Museum in general, exacerbated by poor IT connection; a resulting lack of communication within the museum and the feeling of ‘missing out’ on potential crossovers with other collections Need for change: • Light, temperature and humidity control required for housing collection.

• Greater access to the collections, and the removal of risks associated with moving works and the historical conservation treatments used.

• Facilities and space to enable cataloguing and digitisation • Space to enable research and visitor access and increased volunteer recruitment • Space to enable basic conservation of vertebrate and invertebrate specimens • Increasing demand for the use of the archive in comparative environmental studies, for example from the Dorset Wildlife Trust, the Bournemouth Natural Science Society, the Dorset Environmental Records Centre and the South Dorset Ridgeway AONB.

• •

The role of Dorset in establishing many of the founding principles of natural history Collectors in Dorset and the role of our collections in expanding scientific knowledge and understanding

See Outline Interpretation Proposals, Appendix J, for further information.

Need for change: • To provide the additional gallery space required to display the collection and draw links, particularly with theme of geology.

• To create a gallery that brings together and interprets the story of Dorset’s natural history, geology and landscape in an integrated way.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: No dedicated natural history, landscape or environment gallery at present. Effectively none of the collection is currently on display.

Current interpretation: None of the collection is currently interpreted in the Museum for the public.

Links with other collections: Geology, Literature, Library, Social History, Textiles Themes and stories that are currently untold: • The Natural History collection is a snapshot of 19th century Dorset and can be used to draw out the scientific heritage of the county and is an explanation of the environmental and landscape changes over the past 150 years.

• The between geology, landscape, habitats and patterns of settlement • Dorset’s changing habitats and the impact of human activity, pollution, climate change and differing types of land use on those habitats • Biodiversity, change and conservation

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Archaeology Collections Management Location: The Museum’s archaeological collections, with accompanying paper archives, are stored off site in the deconsecrated All Saints Church in High East Street. This premise is rented from West Dorset District Council. Metalwork collections are stored in a small room in the main Museum.

Environment: Radiators heat the store, but these are insufficient to heat the building in winter when temperatures in the store can fall as low as 8 degrees Celsius. A ‘Munters’ gas-powered dehumidifier provides humidity control, but it is expensive to run and its effectiveness is markedly reduced due to the nature of the building.

Humidity can be maintained at around the 60% RH mark, which remains in excess of the usual recommendation of 55% for archaeological artefacts.

The Whitcombe warrior - human remains from one of Dorset’s most important Iron Age burial sites.

Humidity conditions in the metalwork store (40%) far exceed the recommended range for archaeological metals (10%). This is currently dealt with by storing the collection in sealed plastic ‘Curver’ boxes with desiccant sachets individually placed in each container to reduce humidity to acceptable levels.

Access: Heavy lifting can be required, but at present no mechanical assistance can be used due to the constraints of the building, which restrict access to collections. Collections are also stored in boxes on high-level shelving, where narrow corridors can prevent the correct use of ladders, impeding easy, safe access.

Conservation: Basic pot washing takes place at All Saints Church, but the lack of running water, sinks, proper drainage and drying facilities, means that this work is restricted in scope. Ceramic re-assembly work also occurs, but inadequate lighting and space to store objects where work is ‘in progress’ makes this task harder than it should be.

Archaeology storage at All Saints Church; an extremely compromised environment.

Catalogue: Limited space means that cataloguing and marking takes place in the same workspace and at the same time as conservation work, which is not ideal. The catalogue is digital and complete at excavation level, but individual finds are not catalogued. The collection is continually growing due to depositions from across Dorset.

Digitisation: Limited facilities for photographing / digitisation

of works. The aspiration would be to make material collected by the most significant antiquarians / archaeologists and from Dorset’s ‘type-sites’ available digitally and these are the objects that are the most requested by researchers and students.

Research: Limited space means that research cannot easily take place at the same time as conservation work. There is only limited bench space for visiting researchers and no laboratory facilities for even the simplest analysis.

Bulk collections (e.g. pottery, plaster and bone) cannot be laid out for the duration of researchers studies as would often be beneficial.

Staffing: The team consists of 26 volunteers, with a waiting list of additional volunteers who also wish to work in this collections management team. Due to off-site nature of collection, work is only possible on the two days per week when the volunteer lead curator is available. This would not be an issue if the collection was integrated into the main site. Poor working conditions also hamper volunteer work on the collections. In winter for example, temperatures are too low for volunteers comfort for any length of time. There is no public access to All Saints Church which is a regarded as a missed opportunity given that archaeological collections activities such as pot-washing, numbering, analysis and ceramic re-assembly are found to be of interest by the public.

Indeed ‘hands on, have-a-go’ sessions could be undertaken by learning groups or general visitors on an open day.

Acquisition: The Museum is the only English Heritage approved store for the deposition of archaeology in the county. The Museum has added continually to its archaeological holdings throughout its 150-year history. Specimens have been acquired from private individuals, statutory deposition, rescue archaeology, research excavations, treasure purchases and through liaison with the Dorset Senior Archaeologist, the Dorset and Somerset Portable Antiquities Officer and members of the Dorset Archaeological Committee.

There is very limited space for future acquisitions within the confines of the current store, which for an archaeologically rich county such as Dorset poses a major problem.

Integration: Disconnected from the main museum site.

This restricts volunteer access to the collections and results in difficulties in communication with the main museum and ‘missing out’ on potential crossovers with other collections achieved through informal discussions and contact.

Need for change: • Better control of temperature and humidity control required for housing the collections.

• Greater space to allow conservation work to take place alongside other collections management work.

• Facilities and space to enable cataloguing, photography and digitisation • Space to enable researcher and visitor access and increased volunteer capacity • More space for collection growth. DCM is the County repository and, using collection growth rates since 1992 as a guide, there is at present less than 5 years deposition space remaining.

This is despite a review of older depositions by Wessex Archaeology in 2013, which included the deaccessioning of a considerable number of unstratified, un-contextualised or bulk finds .

Displays and interpretation Current Displays and interpretation: The most important of the museum’s objects from the Bronze Age to the Medieval Period are on display in the Archaeology Gallery, where visitors will find gold neckrings, hoards of bronze coins and beautiful Roman mosaics. These tell the story of human settlement in Dorset from around 6000BC to the end of Roman Britain in circa 410AD The current archaeology displays are due to be renewed in the present building in 2015 to incorporate newly discovered, internationally significant Saxon and Viking material. This is being designed in such a way that these new displays will be flexible enough to be easily relocated and incorporated into a new building.

A summary of the existing proposal, developed in partnership with the South Dorset Ridgeway AONB and supported by a Landscape Partnership bid from the HLF, is attached as Appendix J to this report.

Links with other collections: Literature, Library Need for change: • Even after the gallery refurbishment in 2015, many important objects from the collections will still not be able to be displayed or made physically accessible, being constrained by the existing basic architecture and space available.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Literary collection Collections Management Location: The Hardy, Barnes, Townsend-Warner and Powys archives are all located off a single corridor in the attic of the main Museum building. More environmentally sensitive items in the collection have been temporarily deposited at the Dorset History Centre.

Environment: Currently the collection is stored on static shelves in boxes that are much too full and potentially damaging to the items. The current storage rooms are all too small. There is no humidity control. Central heating is provided, but there is no air conditioning. There are no fire controls in the paper storage zones.

A pencil sketch of Valentine Ackland by Eric Gill, from the personal archive of Sylvia Towsend-Warner.

Access: Relatively accessible. Each room has a working space within it for volunteers. Access issues come from the 150 stairs, and relatively narrow stairwell, it is necessary to climb to reach the store. It is not possible to add a lift in the current building and this issue deters potential older volunteers. It also means the archives are inaccessible to the physically disabled.

Conservation: Humidity control required for housing collections. The volunteer team has been trained in basic bookbinding and paper conservation. A more effective programme could be undertaken if more space was available.

Catalogue: Well advanced and on computer and networked, as in the main Museum Digitisation: No facilities at present, although it is recognised that digitisation would allow easier research access to the collection and reduce risk to the archive from excessive handling.

Research: 30 to 50 visiting researchers use the literary collections each year. These researchers might stay 4-5 days each. A lack of facilities means they have to work in the Museum’s office meeting room, which is disruptive and difficult to invigilate.

The literary archive store. No spare room and unsuitable environmental conditions.

Staffing: 10 volunteers in total (5 Hardy team, 2 Sylvia Townsend-Warner team, 2 William Barnes team, 1 Powys team) Acquisition: Collection is limited by purchase for primary sources.

The secondary collection grows more rapidly as a result of donations by publishers and authors as a condition of reproduction rights.

Integration: The literary teams are all well integrated into the general life of the Museum due to their location in the main Museum building.

Need for change: • To enable easier physical access for staff, volunteers and researchers • To provide controlled, invigilated access to the collections for researchers • To take advantage of the possibilities of digitisation and online access to the collections as a priority action • To upgrade the conditions in which collections are kept, where the ideal storage method would be roller racking within an appropriate controlled environment.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: The Writers’ Dorset explores the lives of Dorset’s authors, poets and novelists and the facets of the county that inspired their work – people, places, landscapes and language.

Current interpretation: A very traditional approach, which contains as its highlight a reconstruction of Thomas Hardy’s third study from his home at Max Gate, including furniture, books and personal possessions that originally belonged to Hardy.

Links with other collections: Geology, Archaeology, Social History, Art, Costume and Textiles Themes and stories that are currently untold: The literature collection could be used more actively to complement interpretation of Geology, Archaeology and Art. Equally, the Social History and Costume and Textiles could be used to better interpret the literary heritage.

Need for change: • Light touch renewal of Writers Dorset gallery, with more interactivity and bringing in objects from nonliterary collections as appropriate to add life and context to the writer’s individual stories.

• Better use of literature collections as in other galleries where those themes have provided a source of inspiration.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Social History Collections Management Location: The collection is split between the loft in the stable block at the rear of the main Museum, with larger, more bulky, items stored in John White’s Rectory. A section of the Craft Market building and a barn in Duddle Farm near Puddletown (around 5 miles outside Dorchester).

Environment: There is limited heating in the stable block loft and no humidity control or cooling. There are no condition controls in any of the other spaces.

Access: Because the stores are over-full there is extremely limited access and in places it can be considered hazardous. There are no dedicated working spaces for the social history volunteer team.

A rare Staffordshire late 18th Century owl teapot.

Conservation: Basic cleaning and woodworm treatment forms the majority if the work done. The traction engine team is based at Duddle Farm and does more advanced maintenance (re-tubing of the boiler for example) on that object. A basic workshop and ‘dirty space’ would enable work to be done on more of the collections, particularly the metalwork, agriculture and transport collections.

Catalogue: The collection is partially catalogued in a series of Accession Registers, with a limited amount of cataloguing on MS access – around 5000 records out of about 20000 objects. Cataloguing work is hampered by the lack of workspace and by not being on the IT network.

Digitisation: No facilities for photographing / digitisation of works.

Research: Limited facilities for research, particularly concerning the bigger items

A recreation of a Dorset blacksmith’s forge in the Rural Dorset gallery - only a small fraction of the collection is on display.

Staffing: 5 volunteers. When volunteers wish to work on stable block objects they have to remove them from the store and work on them in a separate office on a different floor. Rectory and stable objects are inaccessible because of hazardous state of the buildings.

Acquisition: No capacity for future collecting. As a result the opportunity for contemporary collecting is not being realised. Collection has not been effectively added to

since the 1970s As a result the effective coverage of the Social History collections ends in the 1950s.

Integration: Largely a well-integrated team due to their location within the main Museum. The traction engine team are very isolated from the main workings of the Museum however due to the remote location of their workshop.

Need for change: • • • • •

Need for change: • To display and interpret non-farming material into a new ‘Dorset Life’ gallery, with supporting material from other collections from photography to costumes.

• To develop the physical and organisational capacity to resume contemporary collecting of Social History material to maintain collections relevance and ability of the museum to tell 20th and 21st century stories in the future.

To provide environmental controls for collections To create suitable working space for the volunteer team To enable access for research and study To create facilities for basic conservation work To allow space for appropriate storage density and future acquisition, so a contemporary collecting strategy can be put into effect.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: The Rural Dorset gallery explores farming county wide using a range of agricultural machinery and tools, including pitchforks, hay rakes and scythes Current interpretation: Interpretation focused on rural life. With little opportunity for the wider story of trade and industry, seafaring, smuggling, transport, towns, radical politics, law and justice.

Links with other collections: Geology, Archaeology, Literature, Photography, Costume and Textiles Themes and stories that are currently untold: There is a need to re-display the social history collection so that its focus is broader than the current story of farming. Themes include: • Popular belief and superstition • Rural poverty – and its relationship to the picturesque in art • Industry and work – from agriculture and quarrying to fishing and smuggling • Political campaigning – e.g. The Tolpuddle Martyrs • Law and justice • Domestic life – and the impact of the growth of Dorset’s towns • Estate life – tenant farming and domestic service (also considering the relationship with ‘elite’ Dorset society) See Outline Interpretation Proposals, Appendix J, for further information

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Fine and Decorative Art Collections Management Location: The art store is contained in two cramped small rooms in 4/5 Colliton Street, part of a small converted domestic cottage. There is insufficient space to house the current collection to professionally recognised standards.

Environment: The art store is heated by central heating radiators, with no provision for cooling or air conditioning. There is limited control of relative humidity using portable dehumidifiers. This has resulted in ongoing problems with mould on artworks and frames.

George Dannatt, Ancient Landscape (oil on canvas, 1982)

Access: The limited physical access in rooms accessed by narrow corridors in a separate building results in risks to fragile objects when navigating the building. Risks are also posed by the fact that objects must go outside in order to be moved to the main Museum. These problems mean that the collection is typically only accessed once per week as present.

Conservation: Conservation to paintings themselves cannot take place on site as there is no space or facilities to undertake even basic repairs to frames or to allow framing and stacking of solander boxes.

Catalogue: Contained in card index files and in MS Access form on a single computer in Colliton Street not connected to Museum’s server.

Digitisation: No facilities for photographing / digitisation of works Research: No facilities to lay out objects for research either by staff, volunteers or visitors Staffing: 5 volunteers but poor physical access for staff/ volunteers

The framed watercolour store at 4/5 Colliton Street - no more room for growth and placing the collections at risk.

Acquisition: No space or facilities to accommodate any additions to the collections.

Integration: Isolation of the archive this is manifest in several ways: lone working restrictions and not feeling part of the Museum in general, exacerbated by poor IT connection; resulting lack of communication within museum and

the feeling of ‘missing out’ on potential crossovers with other collections Need for change: • Light, temperature and humidity control are required for housing collections.

• Greater access to the collections is needed, combined with the removal of risks associated with moving works from the collection.

• Facilities and space to enable cataloguing and digitisation urgently required • Space to enable better researcher and visitor access and increased volunteer access is needed • Space to enable basic frame restoration and other elementary conservation treatments is also a necessity.

Need for change: • A dedicated space to display these collections and draw out key themes and stories, which will also add richness to other displays; • ‘Gallery spaces with the flexibility to bring together the fine and decorative art collections with highlights from the textiles and costume, social history and literary collections to tell stories outlined above.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: There are no dedicated galleries for fine and decorative art at the Museum. Currently there is a very small proportion of the art collection on display in the Museum. Works are distributed throughout the exhibits where pieces are relevant to the major thematic galleries. A small selection of works is also on display in the Victorian Gallery and the main stairwell.

Current interpretation: Works are currently hung opportunistically with very limited opportunities to use the collection for telling stories / exploring themes.

Links with other collections: Costume and textiles, photography and literature Themes and stories that are currently untold: Greater use and interpretation of the collection might draw on the landscape of Dorset and the history of creativity in Dorset, for example: • The importance of Dorset to artists; • Artistic patronage in Dorset • The Church and the great houses of Dorset – ‘Dorset Society’ • Puritanism, trade and links to America; • Dorset and the picturesque; • The impact of the Enlightenment on Dorset; • C18th and C19th Dorset, the industrial revolution and the landscape • Decorative arts (along with costume and textiles) to tell the story of creativity in Dorset See Outline Interpretation Proposals, Appendix J, for further information.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Costume and Textiles Collections Management Location: The costume collection is stored in three small rooms in 4/5 Colliton Street, part of a small converted domestic cottage. There is insufficient space to house the current collection to professionally recognised standards and in one of the stores staff / volunteers cannot stand up properly.

Dorset made hats, recently displayed in a special exhibition on fashion accessories

Integration: Isolation of this collection is manifest in several ways: lone working; not feeling part of the Museum; lack of communication within museum and the feeling of ‘missing out’ on potential crossovers with other collections.

Environment: The costume and textiles store is heated by central heating radiators, with no provision for cooling or air conditioning. There is limited control of relative humidity using portable de-humidifiers. Most items are currently stored in solander boxes, which are inadequate for larger pieces as folding the textiles can damage and break materials. There is an ongoing risk of infestations, which is acute because of collection’s location in a loft space where it is not feasible to control the environment and its cramped nature means that effective pest monitoring and management is impossible.

Need for change: • Light, temperature and humidity control required for housing collections.

• Greater access to the collections, and removal of risks associated with moving works from the collection.

• Facilities and space to enable cataloguing (directly to central database) and digitisation • Facilities and space to enable basic conservation work, condition reporting, minor repairs and labelling to take place.

• Space to enable research and visitor access and increased volunteer access

Access: The limited physical access in rooms and loft spaces accessed by narrow corridors and undersized doors in a separate building result in risks to fragile objects when navigating the building. Risks are also posed by the fact that objects must go outside in order to be moved to the main Museum.

Displays and interpretation Current Displays: Of the 5000 pieces/objects within the costume and textiles collection only 12 are accessible to the public by display. There is no gallery space dedicated for textiles and costume.

Current interpretation: Currently limited Links with other collections: Literature, Social History, Natural History

Conservation: A general lack of space means that the scope for textile conservation work is severely limited. For example there is no room for costumes to be placed on mannequins or the preparation of exhibitions. This is despite an ICON Accredited textile conservator serving on the Museum’s volunteer team.

Catalogue: Catalogued on index cards. Most objects are not physically labelled, due to lack of space for volunteers to embark on labelling work.

Digitisation: No facilities for photographing / digitisation of works.

The costumes and Textiles store in 4/5 Colliton Street.

Overcrowded and very difficult to access.

Acquisition: Currently there is no space or facilities to accommodate additional items in the collection.

Research: No facilities for research (visitors or volunteers).

Staffing: The team has 6 volunteers, who come in 3-4 per week.

This could become larger still if there was additional work space.

Need for change: • To create the additional gallery space required to display and interpret collection and draw in links with Fine and Decorative Arts • To renew social history displays to allow for more use of textiles and costume collection.

• To build the necessary preparation and conservation space to allow for costumes on display to be changed/rotated, for conservation requirements, on a more regular basis.

Themes and stories that are currently untold: • Displaying key ‘elite’ costumes and textiles in context of fine and decorative art displays to compliment themes of patronage and society • Placing textiles and fashion within the decorative arts and the story of creativity in Dorset • Using costume objects to bring the Social History collections to life in terms of industry, agriculture, childhood and domesticity • The potential to create an open access study area; “behind the scenes” displays where visitors can open cupboards and drawers to see textiles and costumes.

• Ability to rotate costumes on gallery display that link to other aspects of the collection; however current space constraints mean that there is no space to prepare for display in order to facilitate such rotation.

See Outline Interpretation Proposals, Appendix J, for further information.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 3. Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation Library and Dorset Photographic Record Collections Management Location: The Library is located on the ground floor of the main Museum, with reserve collections stored in the basement. The Map and Plan collection is stored in the loft space of the main Museum. The Dorset Photographic Record is stored in an archive room on the ground floor of the main Museum, adjacent to the Common Room.

Environment: The static shelves in the library and basement are full.

The environment in the basement is damp and, due to the proximity of the boiler room, too hot. Conditions in the library itself fluctuate dramatically dependent on the season and lux levels are excessive. In contrast, conditions in the map and plan store and the Dorset Photographic Record are stable.

James Engelheart’s1794 illustration of the mosaics discovered at Frampton - from the library’s special collections.

Access: Around 40% of the Library is accessible but those collections stored in the basement are inaccessible.

Access to the Map and Plan store is via a narrow twisting staircase, which restricts movement and the easy transportation of objects. Volunteers working in the library must share their working space with readers and visiting researchers, which restricts the activities of all groups.

Conservation: Working in partnership with the local NADFAS group, the volunteer team has been trained in basic bookbinding, photographic and paper conservation.

However, a more effective programme could be undertaken if a dedicated space were available.

Currently equipment, materials and objects have to be set out and put away every time due to the shared nature of the working space available.

Catalogue: There is a complete card catalogue for the library, map and plan and photographic collections. Development of a digital and online catalogue is in progress using networked computers.

The cluttered library, where the work of the librarians shares space with readers and researchers using the Museum.

Digitisation: Basic facilities for scanning the photographic collection are available and a dedicated team of volunteers is working on this project. Our aspiration would be to digitise our collection of rare maps in the future.

Research: The library is used by circa 900 readers per annum.

The photographic archive is used by around 150

researchers per annum. In both cases the Museum’s ability to produce materials for researchers in a controlled, invigilated manner is severely compromised.

Staffing: A team of 12 Library volunteers work on a rota to invigilate the library and provide access where possible to reserve stack material. A team of 5 volunteers curates the photographic archive, providing assistance to researchers and reprographic services.

Acquisition: The Museum has an annual book purchase budget of £500 per annum. Some 20-30 new volumes per annum are added, plus donations from members, authors and publishers.

Integration: The library, photographic and map teams are all well integrated into the general life of the Museum due to their location in the main Museum building.

Need for change: • The environmental conditions for library storage need to be raised to acceptable standards • The acute lack of space for storage and access needs to be addressed • The provision of facilities to carry out basic conservation work (e.g. bookbinding) • The ability to provide controlled, invigilated facilities in which visiting researchers can work needs to be provided Displays and interpretation Current Displays: None, although the photographic collection is regularly used to form the basis of temporary exhibitions in the Museum.

Current interpretation: None Links with other collections: Geology, Archaeology, Natural History, Social History, Art, Costume and Textiles Themes and stories that are currently untold: The printed materials in the library collections could be used more much more effectively to complement our interpretation of the Museum’s collection.

The photographic collection could be much better used to help interpret Dorset’s heritage in the permanent galleries, particularly for social history.

Need for change: • Better use of library, map and photographic collections as objects on display and as part of the interpretation across all the Museum’s galleries.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering

4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering Section 4 outlines where we are now in terms of our work with people. It provides an overview of our formal and informal learning aims and activities and our current limitations in terms of facilities and resources. The learning sections are drawn from ACE funded research by specialist learning consultant Natalie Chambers, which was prepared in consultation with our staff and volunteers.

Dorset County Museum has a very strong volunteer base, which underpins the day to day running of the museum. Nevertheless there are significant challenges in terms of physical space and resources for volunteering and training which will be addressed through this project, and which are also outlined in this section.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering 4.1 Learning aims and policy, resources and staffing The overarching aim of the Museum is to improve physical and intellectual access to the building and its collections. DCM’s learning policy uses the principles of ‘‘Inspiring Learning for All’’, recognising that excitement and motivation are the foundations for successful learning and that museum visits should be challenging and memorable experiences.

The role of learning is recognised at a strategic level as being fundamental in achieving a high level of visitor satisfaction and integral to the museum’s plans for development.

The education department is responsible for the museum’s strategic and operational delivery of the learning programme. Using the museum’s collections, expertise and values, the education team of two volunteers led by a part time Education Officer, aims to engage with learners of all ages, to provide an inclusive, accessible and enjoyable experience for all.

Strengths A school group taking part in a formal archaeology KS 2 learning session.

Weaknesses No dedicated learning space. Current learning space is within Social History Gallery.

While the Museum recognises the importance of learning and provides the most extensive offer it can, its ambitions are hampered by a lack of space and resources.

There is no dedicated learning space, with sessions taking place in a room with no ‘wet’ facilities that doubles as a Gallery and is also on the visitor circulation route. As a result significant staff and volunteer time is spent moving furniture and equipment before and after sessions.

The permanent part-time Education Officer post represented a significant advance for the Museum when it was created in 2013, however there is a clear need for greater capacity in order to develop the programme and the volunteer base in this area. This is currently prevented by limited resources and the fact that the space is very inefficient. A possibility of a renewed museum provides a solution to both the physical and financial constraints faced by learning at DCM. This section, based on a recent review of DCM’s learning provision, includes the following: • •

Opportunities Understanding the walk of the archaeologist - a session in the Ancient Dorset gallery.

Threats Overcrowded space

•

Overview of strengths and weaknesses Review of current formal and informal learning provision The need for change: current barriers to learning

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Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering 4.2 Overview - Learning: SWOT analysis Strengths People • Part-time education officer and 2 learning support volunteers • Trustee support for learning • Welcoming front of house staff • Staff trained to support visitors with disabilities Partnerships • Jurassic Coast Museums Partnership.

• Wessex Museums Partnership.

• Dorchester Area Schools Partnership.

Places / Resources • Inspiring learning environment in galleries • Ability to accommodate large groups in Victorian Gallery • Museum collections • Schools learning programme and resources Opportunities People • Additional consultation and research to further test need.

• Projects targeted to include under-represented groups in projects to interpret and use knowledge, resources and collections • Development of a volunteer training and work experience programme • Creation of museum apprenticeships scheme and work placements / research opportunities for students in Higher Education • Bring in external contributors (workshop leaders, artists, consultants, writers etc.) to deliver services through various programmes.

• Strength of expert subject knowledge and practical skills amongst the Museum’s volunteers and members Places • A new designated space for learning enabling the museum to meet the needs of all its users participating in activities and events.

• A new learning space promoted to local community as a resource • The possibility of providing unique hands-on archaeological activities in the Museum’s courtyard spaces due to the rich Roman archaeology of Dorchester • Keep Museum, Shire Hall and Tank Museum developing new programme at present, which DCM can respond too.

Weaknesses • •

developed in partnership with the visiting teacher Adult learning programme Recognise need to developing learning resources and activities that reflect a range of learning styles and needs.

Programmes • Resources and programmes to local schools who are unable to visit • Some temporary exhibitions reflect the needs and interest of the local community in interpreting the displays.

• Recent resources and programmes have had a clear focus on the learning experience and outcomes • Activities reflect collections and our sense of place

•

Create displays and exhibitions where different learning styles are reflected.

Policies • Learning strategy that responds to the new National Curriculum, opening up the potential to provide sessions in prehistory / archaeology and the natural sciences / environment that are presently not available to schools in Dorset.

• Plans and documents that identify, reflect and prioritise learning, access and inclusion • Audience development strategy to enable the museum to plan to broaden the user profile • Develop a clear evaluation framework.

• Physical, sensory and intellectual access audit Partnerships • Large range of exisiting and potential partners/ gatekeepers for development work.

• New projects that actively seek partners.

• Projects that use skills, resources and collections to add value to others’ learning initiatives.

People • Staffing levels inadequate for desired learning offer • No capacity and time to develop the service (restricted by current resource limitations and lack of support from local authorities) • Limited staff and volunteer training support (cost/ time constraints) • Limited evidence base on current users are, their values, motivations, preferences and experiences Places / Resources • Lack of facilities for large groups • No designated learning space • Lack of facilities in space currently used that limits activities (e.g. no sink, storage, etc) • Limited access to the museum’s library and archive collections (staff and public) • Limited access to many of the museum’s

• • • • •

collections Many resources are old/tired and out of date; limited resources and learning materials available online.

Limited resources for families – much more interactivity required Visitors are limited in the way they can access the information and services they need in their preferred medium and format Promotional materials are out of date and hard to access Limited core funding: for every £1 the museum receives in grant aid they currently have to raise £8 in revenue to maintain status quo.

Policies • Ad hoc funding for displays ensures continuity of design and delivery to meets DDA standards.

Threats People • •

Current capacity prevents the development of internal capabilities Loss of key staff (stress and overwork are key factors)

Places •

Further cuts to school budgets; increased transport costs for schools

Resources •

Need to generate additional income from raised/ earned sources to sustain ambitions in the long term. 50% cuts to grant aid from DCC have been sustained and WDDC is reviewing discretionary rate relief, which is a major threat, and suggests little in the way of future public revenue funding likely.

Resources • Creation of a new dedicated learning space suitable for the requirements of a wide range of users.

• Technology development and innovation: development of an app for its collections with Brunel University. Develop in-house capacity to maintain technology on gallery.

• Resources and activities developed specifically for target audience groups e.g. family learning trails.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 38

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering 4.3 Current Activities: Formal Learning Schools programme The Museum’s learning programme is built around the key themes of its galleries. We also facilitate learning sessions and access to the Roman Town House in Dorchester on behalf of DCC and at nearby Maiden Castle on behalf of English Heritage.

The formal learning offer includes: • • • • • •

School visit to Dorset County Museum

• • •

Archaeology: History KS 1 Iron Age Life: History KS 2 Romans: History KS 2 Roman and Iron Age: History KS 1-2 Victorian England: History KS 3 Smuggling: History KS 1-3 [Non-statutory /Local Study] Thomas Hardy: English KS 2 - 4 post 16 Rocks, Fossils and Dinosaurs: Science KS2 Jurassic Coast: Geography KS 1-3

The Museum also delivers workshops to support its temporary exhibitions programme.

We are able to accept groups of up to 50 pupils for workshops and taught sessions. However, larger groups place a strain on service delivery due to staffing capacity and space limitations.

Resource Boxes The Museum provides a range of resource boxes that can be taken away and used in the classroom. In 2014, the education officer developed a new archaeology resource box as part of the South Dorset Heritage Project. All of the boxes include teaching notes, photographs, pictures and a selection real and replica artefacts.

4.4 Current Activities: Informal Learning

The ‘Museum Makers’ prepare props for their forthcoming stage production We’ll Be Home In Time For Christmas.

Families The Museum is continually developing its offer for families. The Jurassic Coast Gallery has helped to make the Museum more family friendly, offering a range of activities including a Lego dinosaur, books, games and dressing up. The Museum has also weekly ‘make and do’ workshops in the school holidays that are proving to be very popular, particularly since sponsorship was secured from a local business to allow these to be offered free of charge.

A small range of new trails has been recently

introduced aimed at families with young children. There is an ambition to further develop informal in-gallery learning and activities, particularly in the archaeology gallery when it is re-displayed in 2015.

Life-long Learners The Museum organises a full variety of activities aimed at life-long learners. There are regular evening lectures and specialist talks relating to archaeology, geology, local history, art and literature. These are combined with annual day schools on archaeology, costume and fashion and Dorset history. We also offer ‘hands on’ craft activity sessions for adults once a month. These cover a range of heritage topics connected with our collections.

The Museum also works closely with the Dorset County Museum Music Society, the Thomas Hardy Secondary School and Dorset musicians to stage a full programme of classical and folk music concerts. These are held either in the evening or during weekday lunchtimes.

Group Visits and Guided Tours The Museum welcomes group bookings and offers guided tours that can be booked in advance of a visit.

The Museum also offers volunteer-led guided tours on a daily basis for general visitors. These are included in the admission fee.

Young Archaeologists Club The Young Archaeologists’ Club at DCM is part of the Council for British Archaeology’s network of groups for 8 – 17 year olds interested in archaeology. Meeting once a month, it provides opportunities to be inspired and excited by archaeology. The Museum’s group undertakes such activities as getting involved with excavation and post-excavation work, and provides a platform through which young people are empowered to help shape the future of the archaeology.

Museum Makers Museum Makers is a group for adults with learning disabilities who meet at the museum every Monday morning in term time. The group works together with the education team, specialist carers, artists and performers to use the museum as a place for inspiration. Over the past few years the group has curated an exhibition, created a multi-media display, staged theatrical performances and written and produced a small film. A short documentary film about this project can be viewed at; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7XA7AYPVDA Special projects The Education team also supports a wide range of projects for Extended Services, Adult and Family

Dorset County Museum November 2014 39

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering Learning, Adults with Learning Disabilities and Looked After Children. It often works in partnership with other providers and services, such as DCC and the Dorset Youth Association, to ensure high quality and flexible programmes.

The Museum is on the ‘‘Teaching Outside the Classroom’’ database as part of Dorset Graduate and Registered Teacher Programme, providing voluntary opportunities for trainees to undertake a 3-day placement with the museum as a ‘‘Learning Outside the Classroom’’ provider. The education officer provides talks, activities and placements for SCITT and other Teacher Training programmes.

Pre school children visiting the Museum

In 2014, a £55,000 grant was awarded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to The Dorset Experience Project to explore the delivery of history and heritage information in the countryside. The project is a partnership between Brunel University and Dorset County Museum and features a multi-skilled team from the Schools of Arts and Department of Computer Science (DCS). Activity will include the development of a feasibility study and a small-scale test platform.

Encouraging new and different types of visitors The museum runs two events each year that aim to encourage new visitors and local people to get involved.

The national campaign, Museums at Night, organised

by Culture 24 and Arts Council England, encourages people to visit all of Dorchester’s 6 museum and heritage attractions on one night. The Dorchester Christmas Cracker, an annual event that marks the turning on of the town’s Christmas lights, typically sees over 1500 visitors to the museum in just three hours – attracted by special activities such as pop concerts or an invasion of daleks, storm troopers and cylons!

4.5 Formal and Informal Learning: Capacity, Facilities, Access Learning activities currently take place in the Learning Base and also in the general public spaces of the Museum.

The Learning room is not fit-for purpose and presents a number of challenges: • •

• • • • • • •

No sinks to allow for painting, clay work, or any other wet or messy activities.

No lockable storage in the learning room. The tables have to be taken out of storage and set up and taken down for every lesson. This takes an hour before and after every lesson and is an inefficient use of staff’s time.

The learning space gets too cold in the winter.

No computer access.

No space for coats and bags.

Maximum occupancy 35.

No space for modest catering facilities for groups (Small tearoom with kettle, sink, microwave, fridge).

Floor inappropriate for children to sit on.

No toilets – children have to use general public toilets.

Staff capacity The programme is managed and delivered by a part time (0.6) Education Officer, who is a qualified primary school teacher. This post was created in 2013 and is supported by two volunteer teaching assistants (both retired primary school teachers) and a volunteer assisting with education administration.

The formal and informal learning provision already demands more than the staff and volunteer can provide. The Education Officer is responsible for all delivery including preparation and clear-up and therefore the ability to plan strategically, develop new sessions or learning offers, and to fundraise is curtailed

The Museum is regularly used by community groups for a variety of events and performances - as with this recent production of The Withered Arm by the New Hardy Players.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 40

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering 4.6 Need for Change: Informal and Formal Learning Barriers to Engagement

Analysis of learning and participation activities available to each visitor type Visitor Type

Available Resources / Activities

Barriers to learning and participation

Families with younger children (c.2 – 10 years), local and tourists.

• •

• • •

•

Wednesday morning holiday drop-in workshops.

Interactive displays in the Jurassic Gallery for children aged 7 – 12.

Hands on displays in the Writers Gallery and Archaeology Gallery.

•

Staff capacity to lead and develop workshops.

Limited access to workshops.

Limited/no self-directed learning resources, excludes those who prefer to learn independently out of a group context or visiting on a day when no supported activity is offered.

Age range of interactive displays.

Adult tourists looking to find out more about the area and have an enjoyable and informative morning/ afternoon out.

• • •

Permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Guide book.

Daily guided tours.

• •

Marketing capacity.

Volunteer capacity to run adult guided tours.

Local societies and clubs with a social interest who are seeking passive enjoyment of an experience.

•

Museum Makers group for adults with learning disabilities to encourage engagement with the collections.

Dorchester Strollers Group – use the museum as a base for their weekly health walks.

•

Lack of partnership development capacity and tailored projects for extending work to the local community, including community groups.

Dorchester Association group who hold learning events promoting the history of Dorchester at the Museum.

Specialist Dorset County Boundary, Archaeology, Geology, Art, Thomas Hardy and Travel lecture series.

Exhibitions by Dorchester Art Groups, Schools and Photographic Club.

Dorchester Geologists Assoc.

Dorset Count Boundary Survey.

Dorset Local History Group.

•

Inadequate facilities to provide a suitable learning environment.

Restricted space to accommodate exhibiting groups.

Launch of Young Archaeologists Club in Summer 2014.

Make and Do craft sessions for families.

• • •

•

Local societies with a special focus, e.g. photography/ painting/local history.

•

Special interest groups looking to the museum to extend their knowledge and understanding of a particular subject/theme or wishing to using the collections as a springboard for inspiration.

• • • • •

Parents and home educators looking to support their children’s learning.

• •

•

• Primary schools visiting with a specific curriculum focus or topic

• • • •

Primary school workshops.

Outreach.

CPD/Training.

NQT support.

•

• • • •

There are a number of specific barriers that prevent individual visitor groups from fully engaging with the Museum’s learning offer, most of which relate to lack of space, capacity and resources, all of which this project will address.

This table details the range of learning and participation activities currently on offer and identified barriers to learning and participation:

Limited resources to support family learning.

Limited targeted family activities.

Technical information and text can be difficult to access.

Little opportunity for object handling or extended learning without museum staff support.

No storage for school learning resources in the museum building. Setting up a session involves carrying heavy boxes from another building up and down stairs. There is no lift or trolley.

Long rural travel times and distance.

Limited public transport; No coach drop-off and parking.

Practical facilities: no cloakroom/pegs, space to leave packed lunches, lunch area/space.

Some cases in the older galleries are too to high for younger pupils to see.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 41

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering Visitor Type

Available Resources / Activities

Barriers to learning and participation • • • •

No pre- or post-visit support materials for teachers and schools.

Some learning resources are out of date and do not encourage active learning.

Website has limited support materials and information for schools.

No digital tools (cameras, hand-helds) to support learning programme.

Organisational barriers • • • • • •

Secondary schools/higher education institutes/ colleges/ universities visiting with a specific focus.

• •

Literature creative writing study group for A-levels.

Seminar on 19th history for 6th form literature students.

• • • • •

•

Limited capacity to develop and delivery learning programme.

Exhibition schedule: exhibitions program.

The museum does not offer targeted programmes for secondary schools during ‘activities’ week.

The museum is not currently able to offer a rolling programme of smaller groups of secondary school pupils.

Learning offer is too ambitious for staff/volunteer capacity and in need of auditing, review and redevelopment.

Expected behaviour: normal enthusiastic pupil behaviour is not always understood and welcomed by some museum visitors.

The museum is unable to offer a social, comfortable environment where students can be free to learn and share ideas as a group.

Library and archive material not easily available.

Stereotypical view of the museum as being boring, dictating and uninviting.

Young people can see museums as being preoccupied with the past, when they want to know about the future.

Feel that the museum is not relevant to their needs and wants, they desire jointly constructed knowledge, instead of traditional didactic approach.

Negative memories of past museum visits.

• • •

Private library.

Specialist talks programme.

Volunteering activities.

• •

Limited capacity within the museum staff to manage existing and new volunteers.

Limited volunteer support and training.

General visitors, including children with a particular a close tie with the museums content.

•

Permanent and temporary exhibitions.

•

Limited resources to extend the visit experience.

Professional interest e.g. local historians / scholars.

•

Access to research and the reserve collections.

•

Lack of facilities to produce objects in a controlled environment.

Members and volunteer curators.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 42

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering Visitor Type

Available Resources / Activities

Barriers to learning and participation

Adults seriously interested in archaeology, Hardy, Jurassic Coast, local history.

• • •

Specialist talks programme.

Volunteering and research opportunities.

Access to research and reserve collections.

•

Lack of facilities to produce objects in a controlled environment.

Volunteers looking for a peaceful and restorative experience.

• •

Private library/reading room.

Common room.

• •

Space for them to work in productively is limited.

Use of library for competing functions.

• • • • • •

Membership.

Permanent and temporary exhibitions.

Specialist talks and special events programmes.

Craft activity workshops.

Volunteering and research opportunities.

Access to research and reserve collections.

• • •

Capacity to recruit more members.

Capacity to accommodate extra volunteers.

Space to host different types of talks and special event.

Infrastructure to facilitate access to reserve collection.

Local residents often older members of the community.

•

Dorset County Museum November 2014 43

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering 4.7 Volunteering and training: Policy, resources and staffing

We rely on the generosity of our volunteers who give over 17,000 hours of their time each year. They are involved in a wide range of activities, from documenting, curating and conserving collections to staging exhibitions, working in the Museum shop and tea room or helping with lectures, events and fundraising.

Volunteer curators, with the leadership, management and support of the Collections Manager and Assistant Collections Manager, look after all the collections and a team of volunteers also runs the library.

For many people volunteering is a way of taking their hobbies and interests on to a new level, learning new skills or passing on knowledge. Our Volunteer Policy (2012) gives guidance on the management of volunteers, and for volunteers themselves who are undertaking work, programmes or projects for or on its behalf.

Strengths The Museum has a strong team of skilled and knowledgeable volunteers.

Weaknesses Volunteers have to work in very cramped and unsuitable conditions in many of the collections stores.

The policy includes a volunteer statement, benefits of volunteering, procedures for recruitment induction, training and review, and a code of conduct. All volunteers are given a job description.

The Museum has the services of a part-time Volunteer Co-ordinator, herself a volunteer, who assists with volunteer recruitment, induction, and work allocation, training and pastoral welfare.

180 volunteers

8 Staff FTE

Opportunities The team of volunteers and staff who worked with the British Museum on ‘Pharoah King of Egypt’ in 2012.

Threats Ageing volunteer demographic has an impact on future sustainability The current ratio of volunteers to staff shows their importance to the life of the Museum

Dorset County Museum November 2014 44

Part Two : The Need for Change 4. People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering

Volunteering and training: SWOT analysis Strengths

Weaknesses

Volunteering • Committed body of volunteers drawn from our membership.

• Volunteer policy and job descriptions in place.

• Volunteer co-ordination and management systems in place.

• Good levels of recruitment and retention.

• Volunteers committed to the museum and have a desire to use skills and experience.

• 67% of surveyed volunteers say hopes of volunteering have been fully met.

Volunteering • Volunteer demographic is predominantly 55+; 70% of surveyed volunteers were over 65.

• Increased volunteering capacity required in certain areas such as learning, digital and archaeology.

• Limited budget for volunteer training.

• Limited visibility / celebration of volunteer activity and contribution.

• Waiting lists to volunteer in certain sections.

Training • Volunteer and staff training undertaken on a limited budget by taking advantage of free training opportunities where available.

Training • No capacity to do any training beyond staff and volunteers.

4.9 Limitations and the need for change

Volunteering

Volunteering

•

180 volunteers fulfilling wide range of roles: curatorial, collections management, learning, front of house, café, digital support.

•

Greater staff capacity for the management of a large and growing collection volunteer cohort required.

•

Volunteering policy revised in 2012 for accreditation.

•

•

All volunteers have Job Descriptions.

Volunteer training inadequate – annual budget of £3,000 for more specialist training would be more appropriate. Possibility develop this collectively (e.g. via the Dorset Museums Association) .

•

Volunteer Co-ordinator is an administrative role who does the admin and matches people to roles.

•

Need to recruit more young people.

•

•

All staff are responsible for managing volunteers in their own area of activity. Current capacity for managing collection volunteers is limited to 0.6 FTE Collections Manager and 0.4 FTE Assistant Collections Manager.

Need to create the physical and organisational conditions required to develop volunteering capacity in learning, digital / IT and specific collections teams where required.

•

Lack of celebration / visibility of outcomes – need to create environment where outcomes can be seen.

•

Opportunities

Threats

Volunteering • Improved facilities for learning and collections management will open new volunteering opportunities.

• Increased business capacity will enable more sustainable funding for quality volunteer training and for social gatherings for volunteers.

• Increased volunteer management/co-ordination capacity to improve communication and consultation on ideas and changes.

• Museum could provide volunteering training and advice for other regional museums; pool an increased training budget with other Dorset museums.

• Opportunity to offer public access / visibility to volunteering to raise profile of volunteer contribution and to signpost volunteering opportunities.

• Volunteers have skills not being utilised at present.

Volunteering • Lack of visibility/celebration has potential to affect volunteer morale.

• Limited opportunities for social interaction across the whole volunteer group.

• Aging demographic has longer-term impact on sustainability of the volunteer programme.

Training • Improved facilities will offer opportunities for organisation to deliver apprenticeship and training for HE students.

• Possibility to offer work experience through schools.

4.8 Capacity, Facilities, Access

Training • Risk that volunteer knowledge and expertise in best practice becomes obsolete/inadequate over time.

• Limited opportunity for training disproportionately affects / puts off younger volunteers who may be more interested in skills development and employability than their older colleagues.

•

There is an annual Volunteer budget of £1,000 per annum. The majority of volunteer training is free through the SW Federation of Museums or the Dorset Museums Association.

There is a volunteer common room and kitchen (which was paid for by a legacy and indicates how we are committed to improve volunteer experience).

Training •

Desire to deliver workplace training for Archaeology students (in partnership with Bournemouth University).

•

Desire to provide work experience opportunities through local colleges Desire to create research opportunities for English and Archaeology students (in partnership with Bournemouth University and University of Exeter)

Training •

Currently limited to staff and volunteer training.

•

•

No organisational/financial capacity or adequate facilities to offer training opportunities beyond staff and volunteers.

Outcomes •

To create the physical environment and facilities that will enable the curatorial teams to work more effectively on collections management and work together across collections in a more integrated way, developing the common ground between the different collections.

•

Increase volunteer capacity and thus volunteer opportunities, particularly in the curatorial departments, learning and digital.

•

Foundation for a volunteer cohort that is reflective of a broader local demographic.

•

Develop and deliver Archaeology training programmes with Bournemouth University.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 45

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors

5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors Section 5 considers the need for change with regard to our audiences. It analyses our current visitor numbers and profile, as well as feedback from visitor and stakeholder consultations that we have undertaken, in collaboration with Anne Millman Associates, to inform this project.

Drawing on this consultation, this section considers current barriers to access, which have informed our desired outcomes for communities as outlined in section 6.

We have also examined the potential size of our future audience, which is reflected in our desired ‘communities’ outcomes. This research underpins the assumptions we have presented in our business modelling, included in the Organisational Resilience section of this study (sections 7). These assumptions have in turn informed our design proposals.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 46

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.1 Visit Numbers

Online visits

In 2013 there were 31,249 visits to the museum, broken down into the following categories:

Year Sessions Users

Pages/ session

Duration (min)

Paying Visits (including concessions)

13,979

Free visits (including children, repeat visits by members and café users)

17,270

2013 2012 2011

3.74 3.99 4.21

2.06 2.04 2.16

In addition there were c.6,000 event attenders and 5,000 school admissions.

25,911 25,096 27,474

In 2013: •

71% of visitors were new visitors.

Over the past five years visit numbers have been as follows:

•

77% accessed from a desk top, 23% from tablets or mobiles.

Year

•

88% of online visits were from the UK, 4% from the US, with fractions of 1% from 112 other countries.

2013-14 2012-13

2011* 2010

Online platforms to engage with world wide future visitors

35,257 32,896 36,275

Paying visits1. Free visits2. Total 13,979 18,809 21,173 11,968

17,270 19,054 18,379 8,726

31,249 34,863 39,552 20,694

* 2011: 15 month year 1. Including concessions 2.Including Children, repeat visits by members and cafe users

Peaks in paying visitors in 2011 and 2012 The primary driver for peaks in paying visitor numbers are exhibitions with loans from national collections, for example: •

Pharaoh: King of Egypt, Oct 2011- Jan 2012 (partnership with British Museum).

•

Georgian Faces: Portrait of a County, Jan 2011-April 2011 (partnership with National Portrait Gallery).

Other online platforms The Museum currently has limited capacity to plan and take advantage of opportunities that are presented by sharing content online, whether through social media or other structured projects such as Your Paintings, Google Art Projects, etc.

Experience shows that when this capacity is available (as it was briefly in 2011 when a volunteer with IT experience and expertise was involved) significant improvements in access and profile can be attained.

For example in 2011 a You Tube channel was established and used, and the video of the Pliosaur Unveiling featuring Sir David Attenborough has subsequently received19,200 views.

Other causes for spikes in visitor attendance have included:

Online visitor locations

Online visit devices

•

Significant new acquisitions and gallery refurbishments (such as the Weymouth Bay Pliosaur jawbone in 2011)

•

The opening of the Tea Room in 2011 encouraged a significant uplift in the number of free visits

Weather as an influencing factor on summer visit numbers Summer visit numbers are also influenced by weather conditions with good summer weather tending to adversely affect tourist visit numbers.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 47

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors Further afield...

Local 20%

Gloucestershire

Surrounding counties 37%

Further afield 37% Wiltshire

Hampshire

Somerset

Devon

Dorset Isle of Wight

5.2 Visitors: Who they are In 2013-14 Dorset County Museum participated in Visitor Focus, an audience data collection project undertaken by Audiences Agency and funded by ACE through the South West Museum Development officer. This study provided some headline data about the Museum’s current adult visitor profile (the study excluded visitors under 16), which were benchmarked with the average across 15 other participant museums in the southwest region. This research is caveated by the fact that it took place October / November, and will therefore be weighted towards local visitors and towards older visitors as opposed to family visitors from further afield who are the core audience in the summer months. The Visitor Focus research found that: •

92% are UK based.

•

Of UK visitors, 55% are from the South West, 26% from the South East, and 19% from elsewhere.

•

Research undertaken between January and June 2009 revealed that 20% of visitors were local (i.e. residents of Dorset, Poole or Bournemouth), 43% from surrounding counties and 37% from further afield.

•

Overseas visitors are predominantly from North America, Australia and New Zealand.

•

77% of visits were social in nature, involving groups of 2 or more.

•

76% of those groups were made of family members.

•

64% of visitors were first time visitors, many of whom were on holiday (reflecting the seasonal nature of our demographic)

The Museum’s visitors/audiences have a range of motivations for visiting: Family visitors (local and tourist).

•

Adult visitors (local and tourists) with general interest in the area.

•

Adult visitors (local and tourists) with specialist interest in one of the main collections (e.g. archaeology, literature).

•

Researchers.

•

School or other formal learning visitors.

55:45 female: male ratio (in line with comparators).

•

Members/volunteers.

•

73% of adult visitors surveyed were over 50 (slightly older than comparators).

•

Event attenders.

•

Café/shop visitors.

•

30% of adult visitors in their 60s.

•

97% white (reflective of the area population and tourism profiles).

•

MOSAIC groups: The following socio-economic groups are the most well represented: Professional rewards (B); Rural solitude (C); Small town diversity (D); Active Retirement (E), Suburban Mindset (F).

Regional locality of museum visitors

UK Visitors 92%

Other 8%

Majority of overseas visitors

•

•

Cornwall

Regional percentage of UK based visitors

Quantitative research, which took place to inform this study in June/July 2014, revealed that the family demographic was dominant at this time of year (i.e. summer):

•

MOSAIC groups: The following socio-economic groups are among the least well represented: Careers and Kids (G), Ex council community (I), Industrial heritage (M), Terraced melting pot (N).

•

Among visitors from within a 80-mile radius, the highest concentration of visitors are in the 2 postcodes from the north and west of Dorchester (DT29, DT27) accounting for between 37 - 44% of those visits.

The summer 2014 quantitative research found that visit motivations were wide in range and broke down as follows: Reason for visit

% of surveyed visitors

Happened to be passing To see a particular exhibition To visit a particular gallery To educate family/friends To attend an event To entertain family/friends Personal research Someone else encouraged me To see a particular object Professional research

29% 14% 14% 11% 10% 9% 5% 5% 2% 1%

Dorset County Museum November 2014 48

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.3 Seasonality The number of paying visitors to Dorset County Museum follows a seasonal profile as would be expected for a museum in an area with a strong visitor/ tourism economy.

The Museum’s income budget projects that over half (51%) of paying visits take place over the four months between June and September. There is an additional spike in April around the Easter holidays. Taking Easter into account, the Museum has an extended ‘season’ from April to September that accounts for over 70% of annual paying visits.

Activities that are locally focused generally take place outside this period, such as school visits (autumn and spring terms) and the Lecture Series, which takes place between September and May. Percentage of paying visits by month 2013/14

Nevertheless, in the Summer 2014 visitor survey, the following aspects of the museum were mentioned most in response to a request for suggestions to improve the Museum: • • • • • • •

Better labelling on displays (31) More seats (26) More / better inter-actives (15) Reduced cost of admission (15) More child friendly (9) Better lighting (7) Clearer signage (5)

In the summer 2014 on-site research a number of respondents took the trouble to provide additional thoughts on priorities for the future of the Museum.

There was a consensus that a larger building to show more of the collections should be a priority, while retaining the charm of the existing architecture:

5.4 Audience perceptions and feedback The 2014 visitor survey (573 responses, not all complete) revealed that the museum was rated: • • •

Very Good by 57% of visitors.

Good by 30% of visitors.

Average by 12% of visitors.

40% were very likely to return with a further 40% saying that a return visit was a possibility.

On-site visitor consultation in June/July 2014 revealed that: • • •

63% of visitors spent between 1-2 hours in the museum.

23% spent between 30minutes and 1 hour in the museum.

13% spent over 2 hours in the museum.

82 individuals responded to the invitation to provide the three key words or phrases they would use to describe their visit to the Museum. The words interesting and informative recurred most frequently, followed by varied. The friendliness of staff and the welcoming atmosphere were also highlighted repeatedly.

Clusters of words used to describe the offer, the environment and the experience are summarised in the research findings in Appendix H. Respondents rated all aspects of the current experience positively, with highest ratings for the displays, presentation of collections, and explanations.

“Retain the uniqueness of the building but maybe (depending on space) have a modern attachment which would appeal to the disabled and families” “I hope you are able to manage larger premises so more can be on display. Some more seats would be helpful so visitors can sit and look at things sometimes” “Inaccessible objects are ‘dead’. If 1.5% of objects are ‘alive’, what are the 98.5% being stored for?”

“It is very poor that only 1.5% of objects are on display and two thirds of the space is not accessible. Open it up to a far greater extent. Why keep most objects in store when they could be on show?”

“An extension would add interest to an already interesting Museum and area. More people, including groups, including specialist groups, could visit if more artefacts were displayed, especially if they were themed. Dorset is an interesting area and a larger Museum with more exhibits would reflect that” Other suggestions included: “Audio guides are very useful – plus more facts and figures about the weapons used by the Romans and local inhabitants” “Have the entire collections indexed and visible via computer. A facility to view in future” Digitised collections: In an online survey conducted in June/July 2014, Digital developments which aroused the highest levels of interest were: • • • • •

Opportunities to discover more about the collections online.

Opportunities to download information.

Blogs and podcasts about the Museum’s activities.

Links to other Museum websites.

Opportunities to interact with Museum staff and volunteers.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 49

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.5 Communications and Audience Development

as a barrier.

The Museum’s current Marketing resource comprises of a part time member of staff (Marketing Manager, 0.6 FTE) with an annual budget for materials, printing, distribution and advertising of £17,500. This equates around 50p per visit.

Adult visitors (local and tourists) with specialist interest in one of the main collections, researchers: Some collections not on display at all (natural history), some in a limited way (art, textiles), and with very limited other methods of accessing. Very limited space and capacity for researchers to access the collections.

How do visitors hear about DCM? The Museum’s annual visitor survey records information about how people hear about the Museum.

The two most reported methods were Word of Mouth and Passing By followed by local advertisements/ guides and the Tourist Information Centre.

5.6 Barriers to increased access and engagement From consultation work, visitor research and observation, we have identified a number of barriers to access, across all our existing and potential audiences.

The desired outcomes for the project, outlined below in Section 6 will seek to address all of these barriers to access and engagement: Learners, including children, young people and informal adult learning groups: The Learning Section of this report (Section 4.1 above) identified specific barriers to access and engagement by a wide range of learning groups. In summary physical capacity is limited by small space with no natural light, no sink and no storage, which is on a circulation route. This significantly limits group size and type of activity. Staff capacity limits the ability of the Museum to cater for a range of groups and modest budgets for strategic projects and targeted marketing also have an impact.

Family and Adult visitors (local and tourists) with general interest in the area: Lack of awareness of what DCM is and does. Limited marketing capacity. Limited scope for signage and lack of permeable façade mean that street presence is not obvious to potential visitors. Limited capacity for guided tours and ‘live interpretation’ from visitor experience volunteers

Visitor response to the question: ‘How did you hear about the Museum?

Café/shop visitors: Café is not visible from the street, has no on street signage and is in windowless room within the Museum.

Online audience: Lack of awareness, site is generally passive rather than active. YouTube channel created with a small amount of content, but inactive.

Why have non-users not visited?

As part of the audience consultation to inform this study a focus group of non-users was convened to gain knowledge of barriers to attendance and also what current non-attenders would like to experience at the museum: “I tell you when I look at the outside and I close my eyes and imagine what’s on the inside I always think it’s back 100 years to like what museums were like in Edwardian times. I don’t know, but I think there’s a lot of wood panelling, and I suspect a lot of glass cases, and maybe a collection of coins. I’ve no idea, because I’ve not been in there, but that’s my impression” “I think the Museum is constrained by its building first and foremost… it’s very imposing on the street front and there’s a big space at the back, that nobody knows about, I don’t know what’s inside it” “It’s hamstrung I think by the building it’s in. The building has a very narrow frontage but I understand it’s quite spacious at the back.”

“I think just making people more aware of it” “You see it in tourist brochures all the time, so the museum is – the location of it – is being photographed but it’s just not, I don’t think, standing out”

Family visitors: Lack of awareness of what DCM is and does.

Perceptions that it is old fashioned, or ‘not that big’.

Specialist family activities limited by appropriate space available within the museum. Limited capacity to develop, produce and maintain self-directed learning materials for families. Interpretation options for younger visitors limited. Some non-visitors cited cost

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Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.7 Potential audience: market size and penetration rates Having identified our current audience, areas for development and barriers to access, it is important to identify the size of our potential market in order to understand the potential for growing and broadening our audience.

Broadly speaking, the potential market for activities appear to be: Visitors to Dorset, including adult (general and specialist) and family visitors, cultural tourists and those from ‘non-traditional museum attending’ backgrounds.

• Dorset residents including adult (general and specialist) and family visitors and those from ‘nontraditional museum attending’ backgrounds.

Dorset schools and other schools within a 45-minute drive-time.

•

•

“Experiencing fascinating, beautiful or aweinspiring places and a relaxing day out with friends and family are important to Dorset visitors when looking for a day out.”

5.7.2 Market size: local and regional residents The Audience Agency Area Profile Report analyses the potential regional audience for the Museum within a 79-mile radius of the Dorchester.

Of the total regional adult population of 6.49 million 28% visited a museum last year, giving a potential ‘Museum Attender’ market of 1.8 million.

Within Dorset itself the population is 692,712 (including Bournemouth and Poole). Using the same ‘Museum Attender’ % would give a potential Local audience of 193,000 within the larger regional audience.

5.7.1 Market size: Staying visitors to Dorset; their motivations Visit Dorset’s Value of Tourism report (2011) estimated that in a single year 3.58 million ‘staying trips’ are made by visitors to the Dorset with a further 21 million day trips. 5.1 In the most recent Dorset Visitor Survey (2009) 38% of visitors reported visiting a museum during their stay.5.2 The majority of the Dorset Visitor Survey sample were ‘staying visitors’ rather than day trippers and so it would not be appropriate to apply this 38% figure to the 21 million day trips above.

Nevertheless, extrapolated to Visit Dorset’s ‘staying trips’ figure, this suggests that staying visitors to Dorset have the potential to make at least 1.3million museum visits in the county.

According to Visit Dorset, motivations for visiting the county remain constant and are dominated by the landscape – walking and the coast – which could inform aspects of the Museum’s interpretation strategy for this visitor segment.5.3 In terms of general Dorset visitor motivations, which are useful when thinking about market growth and marketing to new audiences, Visit Dorset’s research5.4 also reveals that: •

“First time visitors to Dorset are influenced to come to the area from information provided by friends and family and the Internet.”

5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4

Visit Dorset, Value of Tourism 2011 p 2 Visit Dorset, Dorset Visitor Survey 2009 p 27 Visit Dorset, Dorset Visitor Survey 2009 pp. 26-27 Visit Dorset, Dorset Visitor Survey 2009 p 26

Dorset County Museum November 2014 51

Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.7.3 Market size: Local and national comparators Analysis of local and national comparators Museum/Gallery Programme

Charging

Visit numbers (12/13)

Pallant House, Chichester Modern British art. Permanent collection and programme of temporary exhibitions.

Adults: £8.50 + Gift Aid Children: £4.00 Family: £20.00

53,000 - 60,000 (Source: Annual reports)

Jerwood Gallery, Hastings Jerwood collection of modern and contemporary British art and programme of temporary exhibitions.

Adults: £8.00 Children: £3.50 Family: £20.00 Concessions for Hastings residents

65,000 (Source: local authority published papers)

Museum of East Anglian Life Largest independent museum in the East of England, Stowmarket.

Adults: £6.90 Adult conc. £5.90 Children: £3.90 Family: £19.00

40,000 (2012, Source: Reported on ACE website)

Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives “Tells the story of Northumberland through fascinating, emotive displays, miners’ paintings, an exciting changing exhibition programme, and Northumberland’s archival treasures.” Re-opened after renovation in 2006.

Free admission. All day parking costs £3.50

90,000 (average over 7 years – range is 75,000 – 100,000, Source: Director)

Abbot Hall and Museum of Lakeland Life, Kendal Art Gallery with permanent collection and temporary exhibitions programme in a Grade 1 listed house with adjacent Museum of local social history.

Adults: £9.00 (Museum and Gallery) Adults: £7.00 (Gallery only) Children: Free

Comparator research has been undertaken into the annual visit numbers to a range of museum and gallery attractions. Direct comparisons are always difficult because of variations in region, museum content and specific circumstance. Nevertheless a number of comparators have been considered that: •

Are outside major urban centres.

•

Are in areas with a notable visitor economy.

•

Have elements of their offer that compare with that at DCM (i.e. fine art or heritage).

•

Are of a broadly comparable scale.

•

Make an admission charge (with some exceptions).

The following table shows attractions that broadly fall into in the 40,000 – 90,000 annual visits range. Those that charge on the whole make a higher charge than DCM. 5.7.4 Likely annual visit number for the renewed DCM It is DCM’s future ambition to have:

Range 26,000-36,000 per annum over recent years for Abbot Hall and the Museum combined, depending on programme, weather etc. (Source: Figures supplied by Finance Director)

Blackwell Arts and Crafts House Arts and crafts historic house in rural Lake District, close to Bowness-on-Windermere.

Adults: £8.00 Children: Free

Lakeland Motor Museum Independent privately run motor museum/visitor attraction, in Ulverston, South Lakeland.

Adults: £8.00 Children: £5.00 Family: £23.00

c. 70,000 (Source: 2012, estimate from owners)

National Maritime Museum, Cornwall Independent maritime museum in Falmouth.

Adults: £11.50 Adult conc. £9.50 Children: £8.00 Family: £32.00

131,000 (2012-13, Source: annual report)

Range 30,000-40,000 per annum over recent years.

(Source: Figures supplied by Finance Director)

•

A more rounded series of gallery displays with more collections on show and broader appeal.

•

More engaging interpretation, both interactive and live, for a broader range of visitors.

•

A higher quality all round offer, including catering and retail.

•

Greater on-street visibility and a more inviting façade.

•

An increased marketing spend and staff capacity.

With this in mind it reasonable to conclude that DCM will be able to build a significantly greater number of annual paying visits. For the purposes of this study the Museum has modelled what its business might look like at four different scenarios: •

80,000 visits per annum (primary scenario).

•

70,000 visits (worst case scenario).

•

90,000 visits.

•

100,000 visits.

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Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.7.5 Current and future penetration rates Applying these scenarios to an analysis of the ‘Museum Attender’ visitor market suggests that the size of the market is such that doubling the total audience for the museum would still only necessitate a relatively modest market penetration of a fraction of 1%.

Analysis of ‘museum attender’ visitor market

Current

Visitor type

% by type

Number

Total market size Penetration rate

Museum attenders’ Penetration rate (%) market size

Museum visits (tourist)

46%

21,200

3,580,000

0.006

1,300,000

0.016

Museum visits (regional)

30%

13,800

6,490,000

0.002

1,800,000

0.008

Event attenders

13%

6,000

Education visits

11%

5,000

100%

46,000

Museum visits (tourist)

54%

43,000

3,580,000

0.012

1,300,000

0.033

Museum visits (regional)

30%

24,000

6,490,000

0.004

1,800,000

0.013

Event attenders

9%

7,000

Education visits

7%

6,000

100%

80,000

Museum visits (tourist)

55%

50,000

3,580,000

0.014

1,300,000

0.038

Museum visits (regional)

30%

27,000

6,490,000

0.004

1,800,000

0.015

Event attenders

8%

7,000

Education visits

7%

6,000

100%

90,000

Museum visits (tourist)

57%

57,000

3,580,000

0.016

1,300,000

0.044

Museum visits (regional)

30%

30,000

6,490,000

0.005

1,800,000

0.017

Event attenders

7%

7,000

Education visits

6%

6,000

100%

100,000

Totals Scenario 1

Totals Scenario 2

Totals Scenario 3

Totals

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Part Two : The Need for Change 5. Communities: Access, Engagement and Visitors 5.8 Developing levels of engagement / visitor experience From a combination of consultation work, visitor research and observation, the Museum has identified a number of actions that will help us to develop our audiences by enhancing levels of engagement with the museum and improving the experience of visitors.

These actions are reflected in the desired outcomes for the Collections Discovery Centre project, as outlined in section 6 of this report and are also reflected in the outline Activity Plan in Section 9.

In brief they can be summarised as follows:

Paul Durkin, international FIFA referee and Dorset native, opens Our Sporting Life in June 2012. Part of a series of exhibitions across the county led by DCM to mark the ‘Cultural Olympiad’.

The ‘Museum Makers’ perform The Hare and the Tortoise as part of the celebrations for the London 2012 Olympic Games

•

Respond to a desire for a changing offer by instigating a new approach to temporary exhibitions, focusing on 2-3 high quality exhibitions per year: Exhibitions will be either: • Self -generated/ curated with loan exhibits • Compiled from DCM’s own material/ resources • Brought in from other museums

•

Renew display and interpretation of the collection to provide an easily communicable grand narrative and encourage increased visitor awareness of stories, layers of meaning, and link between collections.

•

Respond to desire for interaction and multiple layers of interpretation to access the collections by: • Re-appraising approaches and strategies for interpretation so that it is as inclusive as possible for audiences – from educated adult visitors to those with young families • Introduction of mobile inter-activity • Introduction of visitor experience volunteers to provide in-gallery interpretation • Providing behind the scenes access to stored collections and greater engagement through public conservation activities on a scheduled basis • Provision of improved self-directed materials for different age groups

•

Developing programme and marketing links with other organisations, such as the Dorchester Shire Hall and the Hardy Visitor Centre at Higher Bockhampton.

•

Develop a greater understanding locally about what the Museum does, what it is and how people can become involved.

•

Developing its marketing strategy and increase the marketing budget to target priority audience segments.

•

Increasing marketing and communications staff capacity.

•

Improving the on-street visibility and presence of the Museum and communication via the façade of the contents and programme of the Museum.

•

Continue to develop the Museum as a learning hub and community resource for other organisations.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

6. Desired Outcomes for Heritage, People and Communities Following our analysis of the need for change in terms of our heritage, people and communities, this section presents the desired outcomes for the Collections Discovery Centre in these areas. These outcomes are listed along with current baselines against which we will be able to measure and compare the transformation that the project will enable.

These desired outcomes have informed our business modelling, which is discussed in our Organisational Resilience section (Part 4 below) and together with business and resources outcomes, they have formed the brief for our design work, which forms Part 5 of this masterplan.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities 6.1 Introduction Following consideration of the range of need across all the areas of Dorset County Museum, a set of desired outcomes for Heritage, People and Communities has been formulated. These outcomes provided the basis for the design brief for the project as well as informing the outline Activity Plan presented in Section 9 below.

In order to deliver and maintain these outcomes, we have also identified a series of organisational and longterm business development needs, outlined in sections 7 and 8 below. These organisational and business needs have also been fed into the design brief.

Taken together these desired outcomes and organisational and business needs formed a central part of the balanced scorecard used in the Museum’s options analysis (see section 12 below).

The baseline against which outcomes are measured are indicated in the tables below.

Sketch illustrating architectural strategy Establishing visual and physical connections between collections to create an engaging visitor experience

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

Kate Hardy’s dress from the Museum’s costume and textiles collection. This is the garment reputed to have inspired Thomas Hardy’s symbolic use of red in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

Outcomes

Baseline

The Museum will develop the buildings, staff and volunteer capacity to carry out the basic aspects of collections management (cataloguing and documentation to SPECTRUM standards, condition reporting, measurement and photography), which are currently hampered by a restricted space and associated lack of equipment.

Currently no space and facilities in natural history, social history, art, costume and textiles.

The Museum will have the necessary laboratory space for conservation and research in relation to its geology and archaeology collections and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums, research professionals and educational institutions in Dorset.

Currently no space and facilities in Literature, Archaeology, Geology, Natural History, Social History, Art, Costume and Textiles

The Museum’s visitors will be directly engaged with and informed about museum collections management practices as the new building layout for the Museum will make its behind the scenes work more visible and give audiences the opportunity to experience collections care, documentation and conservation at first hand.

6.2 Summary of desired outcomes for Heritage The outcomes for heritage in the project are around the following themes: • • •

No direct visitor engagement with collections management – process is invisible to most visitors

Collections management (HLF outcome: Heritage is better managed) Conservation (HLF outcome: Heritage is in a better condition) Access, display and interpretation (HLF outcome: Heritage is better interpreted and explained)

6.2.1 Collections Management: Heritage is better managed The Museum needs to develop the physical and staff capacity to carry out the basic aspects of collections management (condition reports, cataloguing and photography), which are currently hampered by a restricted space and associated lack of equipment.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

Our Charles II stumpwork embroidered box. A unique and beautiful object, currently at risk due to poor environmental conditions in the costume and textile store.

Outcomes

Baseline

All of the Museum’s heritage collections will be housed in a building that provides appropriate conservation conditions, ensuring they are preserved for the benefit of future generations.

Elements of all the collections are currently in suboptimal conditions

All the collections will be consolidated onto one site allowing for more interaction across collections and ensuring better conditions for volunteering.

Collections are currently housed in 6 different buildings

There will be additional capacity to collect strategically important material from Dorset. This will include both archaeology from the ancient ceremonial landscape of the South Dorset Ridgeway and geology from the coastline of the UNESCO ‘Jurassic Coast’ World Heritage Site, and we will be able to share this storage capacity with other accredited museums in Dorset.

Five years growth (maximum) in archaeology collection, no growth capacity in other collecting areas.

The 16th century John White’s Rectory will be restored, bringing a significant listed building and heritage asset back into the public domain.

Building currently in very poor state of repair

The Museum will have fit for purpose facilities & infrastructure for conservation, research and exhibition preparation – including the specific provision to work on the conservation of our archaeology, geology, costume and art collections - and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums in Dorset

Currently no space and facilities in, Archaeology, Geology, Natural History, Social History

6.2.2 Conservation: Heritage in better condition A number of the collections, notably Costume and Textiles, Natural History, Social History and Fine Art are stored in sub-optimal conditions, putting them at significant risk of environmental damage. The diffuse location of the collections discourages interaction between curatorial teams around conservation and research.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

New gallery spaces will allow us to show and interpret collections that are curretly hidden from view, like this Green Catbird (Ailuroedus crassirostris) collected by Alfred Russel Wallace in the Malay Archipelago.

Outcomes

Baseline

The stories and related themes across the Museum’s collections will be revealed so that visitors experience the collection as constellations within an overarching narrative rather than as a series of thematic cul-desacs. This will present the story in a way that spans over 250 million years and help us understand some of the most important fundamental principles of both natural and human history.

Key stories are untold as highlighted in our outline interpretation strategy (Appendix J)

New permanent display spaces for the presentation and interpretation of our natural history, art and textiles collections will be incorporated into the design of Museum’s building, making these collections fully accessible for the first time

No Natural History currently on display. Art collection not displayed with any central narrative – illustrative of other collections and ad-hoc depending on space.

The restoration of John White’s Rectory will provide a space in which the international links between Dorset and USA can be explored and made accessible.

No focus to develop these links at the moment

The Museum will have the basic facilities required for the ongoing digitisation of its collections.

Current facilities are limited to the photography collection and unsuitable for 3-D objects.

Access to the collections not on display will be enabled through digitised objects and galleries, as well as collections stored in areas with ‘open’ visitor access and the opportunity to directly handle and engage with objects or museum collections management activities.

Currently no digital or public access to stored collections.

The depth of the collection and the work carried out by volunteers is revealed through the public being able to see collections volunteers at work.

Our initial qualitative audience research showed that audiences and local people had a very limited understanding of the work of the museum.

Objects in the collections will be accessible to be viewed in dedicated research spaces for those with research or specialist interests.

Researchers currently have to view collections in the office meeting room or in the library, neither of which allow for adequate control or supervision.

More of the available space in the Museum will be accessible to the public for a range of activities from displays and exhibitions to learning and community use.

Existing publicly accessible space = ~1300m2 Proposed publicly accessible space = ~1900m2 Plus an additional ~1000m2 of publicly viewable space.

6.2.3 Access, display and interpretation: Heritage is better interpreted and explained Of the circa 4 million objects in the Museum, only 1.5% are on display and therefore accessible to the public.

A number of the collections are especially underrepresented in the displays, notably Natural History, Geology, Art and Costume and Textiles.

The collections not on display are not accessible online and lack of physical space limits the Museum’s ability to provide access to objects by request or appointment.

Of the Museum’s current floor space, the historic constraints and limitations of the building mean that only 37% is publically accessible.

There is a need to reappraise the interpretation of the collections and better reveal the connections between them.

Additional gallery space is required to accommodate: •

• •

Geology and Natural History – potentially grouped together in a single Natural Dorset gallery that brings together and interprets the story of Dorset’s natural history, geology and landscape in an integrated way.

Fine and Decorative Art with Costume and Textiles – potentially grouped together in a single gallery interpreting Creative Dorset.

Renewal and re-interpretation of Social History – a replacement for the current Rural Dorset gallery allowing for greater breadth of stores in a gallery interpreting Dorset Life.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

Learning activities happen throughout the Museum at present, but a dedicated space and additional staff would allow us to do much more.

Outcomes

Baseline

The museum will have a dedicated, purpose-designed learning space/ community learning centre, which can accommodate a full range of wet and dry activities for a full school class, as well as having an accessible handling collection kept in the learning centre.

No dedicated learning space. No ‘wet’ facilities.

Learning room shared use as Gallery and circulation for visitors.

The project will enable the Museum’s staff capacity to grow to develop and manage an enhanced formal learning programme, with strong links with the new national curriculum across all four key stages, delivered by qualified volunteers. This will build upon our existing successes, allow the development of new sessions related to strength of our collection in pre-historic archaeology, and enable the creation of ‘hands on’ archaeology sessions in the Museum’s new courtyard spaces.

Currently 1 x 0.6 Learning Officer plus x volunteers.

The project will provide increased physical space, facilities and staff capacity to deliver more sessions for informal learning groups. We will improve the learning facilities we have available for use by community groups and will work in partnership to expand our informal learning capacity.

As above

There will be an enhanced and more sustained family provision, offering more regular activities for more diverse groups and hard to reach audiences.

At present limited to Make and Do family activities in the school holidays.

Waiting list of people wanting to join the Young Archaeologists Club.

6.3 Summary of desired outcomes for People The outcomes for people in the project are around the following themes: • • • •

Learning (HLF outcome: People will have learned about heritage) Volunteering (HLF outcome: People will have volunteered time / developed skills) Training and Apprenticeships (HLF outcome: People will have developed skills) Accessibility

6.3.1 Learning The Museum’s learning provision will be greatly enhanced by having fit for purpose facilities and staff/ volunteer capacity to accommodate full school groups in a way that allows for the needs of all Museum users to be met.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities Outcomes

Baseline

The Museum will have the physical environment and facilities that will enable curatorial teams to work more effectively on collections management and work together across collections in a more integrated way, developing the common ground between the different collections.

Very few workstations within the collections, which limit volunteer numbers. Workstations fragmented across sites.

The project will create more and better working environments for volunteers, enabling the Museum to increase its volunteer capacity and thus volunteer opportunities, particularly in the curatorial departments.

Waiting list for volunteers due to lack of space.

Volunteer with identifies skills that we are unable to utilise due to inadequate facilities (for example textile conservator, bookbinder, furniture restorer)

6.3.2 Volunteering: People will have volunteered and developed skills The Museum has a very strong culture of volunteering.

Volunteers fulfil a wide range of functions from staffing the cafĂŠ to supplying the majority curatorial expertise and practice. Facilities and space for volunteers negatively impact both the quality and number of volunteering opportunities and the nature of work undertaken. The Museum needs to develop greater capacity to manage a growing volunteer workforce. It aspires for its volunteers to be more representative of the local population.

Develop a volunteer cohort that is reflective of a broader local demographic.

The Museum already receives over 17,000 hours of volunteer time each year. A lack of facilities hampers their work and opportunities for other to volunteer.

Outcomes

Baseline

The improved physical environment of the museum, greater revenue income and staff capacity will result in increased opportunities for providing in-house training of staff and volunteers in conservation, collections management, digitisation, web and social media, marketing, hospitality and visitor services.

No delivery space at present

There will be a system of apprentices embedded into the staff structure of the Museum, working in collections management, administration and hospitality functions

No apprentices at present

The Museum will establish an ongoing work placements and research opportunities for students in Higher Education at both Bournemouth University and University of Exeter.

No training for those in education in our current programme due to lack of capacity

Outcomes

Baseline

The Museum building will be fully accessible for those with physical disabilities for the first time

Archaeology Gallery, Writers’ Dorset and the Social History gallery are currently inaccessible to those with impaired mobility.

The Museum’s interpretation will be entirely overhauled to ensure it is both physically and intellectually accessible and provision is made for a variety of learning styles and approaches

Current interpretation is outdated and not accessible to all.

6.3.3 Training and Apprenticeships: People will have developed skills The Museum will expand and develop its apprenticeship by incorporating collections and visitor services apprenticeships into its staff model.

6.3.4 Accessibility The Museum comprises a patchwork of building with multiple level changes meaning that it is not accessible to all users.

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Part Three : Desired Outcomes 6. Heritage, People and Communities

The transformation of the geology gallery into the Jurassic Coast gallery and the acquisition of the Weymouth Bay pliosaur, both projects supported by HLF, have already helped the Museum substantially increase its audience.

Outcomes

Baseline

Greater access, new displays and improved interpretation will help more of the audience to be aware of the stories told by the objects and make the layers of meaning in an object more explicit.

Qualitative research has suggested limited awareness of stories. Activity Plan consultation to provide quantitative understanding and baseline measure.

The project will enhance perceptions of Dorset, its natural history, culture, knowledge and discovery, through the stories told in the Museum.

Qualitative research has suggested limited awareness. Activity Plan consultation to provide quantitative understanding and baseline measure.

The Museum will develop greater audience engagement through the provision of the facilities for a high-quality focused temporary exhibition programme.

This will also enable the Museum to more easily borrow objects or touring exhibitions from the national collections, expanding access to these collections for people in Dorset and enhancing the Museum’s appeal to repeat visitors.

Current temporary exhibition gallery struggles to meets Government Indemnity standards, has poor environmental controls and limits our ability to borrow from national collections.

No present capacity and therefore exhibitions from stored collections are not currently created

The project will enable a greater understanding locally about what the Museum does, what it is and how people can become involved.

Qualitative research has suggested limited awareness. Activity Plan consultation to provide quantitative understanding and baseline measure.

The physical changes to the front of the Museum will improve its visibility and street presence, creating a friendlier, more welcoming and more accessible environment for visitors

Current street presence does not reflect size or contents of the museum.

The Museum will have an enhanced digital presence and accessibility to its collections and the capacity to continue to maintain and develop this in the future.

Current online offer limited to pre- and post-visit information.

Strengthen existing or create new partnerships that further develop and the Museum as a hub and resource for other organizations.

Facilities greatly limit our ability to play a hub role at the moment.

We will have reviewed and expanded our membership scheme, increasing the number of people having an indepth and regular engagement with the Museum.

1850 members of all types.

Outcomes

Baseline

To increase visitors to the Museum from 46,000 to at least 80,000 per annum.

46,000 per annum (2013-14)

More people who are visitors to the area will be attracted to the Museum as a fundamental part of Dorset’s attraction to the cultural tourist, and more people from hard-to-reach or non-traditional audiences will engage with the Museum

Current visitor profile as detailed in Section 5 above

Audience development will be focused around the improved temporary exhibition offer and informal learning programme.

Limited temporary and permanent content and activities around which to frame audience development.

6.4 Summary of desired outcomes for communities The outcomes for communities in the project are around the following themes: • • •

Engagement (HLF outcome: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage) Audience development: numbers (HLF outcome: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage) Audience development: segmentation (HLF outcome: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage)

6.4.1 Communities - More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage: Levels of engagement While current visitors respond positively to the Museum’s existing displays, visitors, volunteers and staff have identified a range of ways in which engagement level can be improved, which will also serve to encourage a larger and broader range of people to engage with the museum’s heritage:

6.4.2 Audience development: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage The Museum currently attracts around 46,000 physical visits per annum, comprising paying admissions, education admissions, events attenders and café users.

In 2013 there were circa 35,000 visits to the museum’s website from 25,000 users.

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Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development

7. Organisational Development Section 7 looks at the present and future capacity of the Museum’s organisation – including staff, volunteers, programme, management and maintenance, trading, marketing and governance – in order to identify the additional staff and financial resources that will be required to maintain the delivery of the desired outcomes for heritage, communities and people beyond HLF investment in the project.

This analysis has been used to inform the cost model of our 10-year business plan, which is described in section 8, as well as our provisional Outline Activity Plan, presented in section 9. Its space and planning implications have also formed part of our design brief.

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Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development 7. Organisational Development In order to maintain the delivery of the outcomes for heritage, people and communities identified in Section 6, it is necessary to consider the present and future capacity of the Museum in a number of key areas:

Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Gallery displays and collections management Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Gallery displays and renewal

No annual budget. There is no budget for changing displays or updating interpretation. Funding is sought for wholesale renewal of a gallery when necessary/ possible. The result is that over time Galleries appear static and tired.

The provision of an annual budget for the renewal of Gallery displays, to begin 2-3 years following project completion.

Collections management activities

Modest annual budget. There is a small annual budget of £2,400 for collections care. This is spent on conservation consumables or small gallery interventions such as mount-making.

Purpose: To allow the display of objects in the collection to be rotated for interpretation to be updated and for equipment to be replaced and renewed.

Collections management work undertaken by volunteers, subject to available facilities and budget.

Museum’s experience is that it has the volunteer capacity to do more activity and at a higher level but lacks the space and associated budget.

There is also currently a very limited budget for specialist volunteer training (included in £2,000 p.a. budget for staff training and travel).

Staff capacity

Volunteers, collections management activity and displays managed by two part time members of staff: •

Collections Manager (0.6 FTE).

•

Asst. Collections Manager (0.4 FTE).

Collections management and displays Temporary exhibitions Maintenance of the building Learning Marketing strategy and resources; the DCM brand Digital capacity Staff and volunteer capacity Governance Trading

Impact: annual budget of £10,000 from Year 6.

This section analyses the current situation in each of these areas and identifies the need for organisational change and development in each.

An increased budget for collections management, to begin during the construction phase.

The financial implications and strategy for providing the necessary resources is addressed in Section 8 below (Business and Resources).

Purpose: A budget that reflects the real needs of the collections care. For example mount for an ammonite – recently made by the Director in spare time – would have cost £500- £600.

Impact: annual budget of £20,000 from Year 1.

Volunteer capacity

• • • • • • • • •

An increased training budget Purpose: To renew the skills, professional development for volunteers – basic conservation (e.g. paper conservation), post-excavation processing of archaeology, documentation, digitisation, photography, object handling.

Includes learning volunteers below.

7.1 Collections management and displays There has been historic under investment in the facilities for the management, storage, conservation and research of the collections, as outlined in Section 3 (Heritage: Collections, Access and Interpretation).

Some Galleries have been recently renewed, while others are in clear need of renewal and some collections have been historically un-displayed or under-displayed. These are also outlined in Section 3.

Part Five of this study proposes a capital investment to address these structural problems. Consideration has also be given to the organisational and financial implications of improving collections management and the maintenance of displays.

Impact: increased annual training budget of £5,000 from Year 1.

A full time collections manager Purpose: Additional workload around Gallery and interpretation renewal, management of more complex collections management activities and budgets and oversight of enhanced collections facilities.

Impact: annual budget of c. £9,200 + inflation from Year 6. Additional capacity covered in the Activity Plan prior to this date.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 64

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Temporary exhibitions

7.2 Temporary exhibition

Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Temporary exhibitions programme

Small baseline budget. There is a modest annual baseline budget of £3,000 for temporary exhibitions, which is augmented each year by additional fundraising. In the current year expenditure will be £15,000.

The provision of an annual budget for two high quality exhibitions each year, to begin following project completion.

Purpose: To incorporate the exhibitions policy into the annual budgeting with stated fundraising targets.

Peaks in visit numbers to DCM have in the past been driven by two factors: high quality and high profile temporary exhibitions and weather conditions. A key aspect of the Museum’s strategy for building audiences – both among local communities and visitors to Dorset – is the provision of a more consistent high quality programme of exhibitions, as outlined in Section 5 above (Communities, Access, Engagement and Visitors).

Impact: annual budget of £35,000 from Year 5 (NB £30,000 in Year 4 as first exhibition costs included in capital project).

Staff capacity

No dedicated staff provision for temporary exhibitions.

Exhibitions are initiated by either the Director and/or individual volunteers and executed by volunteers.

Exhibitions and Events officer Purpose: Additional and more structured workload to consistently deliver three exhibitions per year, in collaboration with the Director and senior volunteers.

Impact: annual budget of c. £21,600 + inflation for 0.8FTE post from Year 6. Additional capacity covered in the Activity Plan prior to this date.

Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Building maintenance

7.3 Maintenance of the building

Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Building maintenance

Annual budget of £4,800 (excluding utilities, security and cleaning).

Increased annual budget, to begin following project completion.

An enhanced building will require additional maintenance expenditure, ideally with provision to put unspent budget into a designated capital renewal fund for major future expenditure on plant etc.

Purpose: To ensure that the new asset is well maintained and that a designated capital renewal fund can be built up out of any un-spent budget.

Impact: annual budget of £10,000 (Y4/Y5) rising to £15,000 p.a. + inflation.

Staff capacity

Caretaker (F/T) responsible for building maintenance, with support from volunteer team.

Maintain existing caretaker provision. No additional staff/volunteer resource required.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 65

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Learning activities

7.4 Learning

Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Learning activities

Small baseline budget. There is a modest annual baseline budget of £1,960 for learning activities, which is augmented each year by additional fundraising. In the current year expenditure will be c. £12,960.

Increased annual budget, to begin following project completion.

As set out in Section 4 (People: Learning, Skills and Volunteering) there are aspects of organisational development required in order to deliver the Museum’s learning ambitions, which are at the heart of this project.

Purpose: To ensure that the learning ambitions expressed in the feasibility study and outline activity plan are sustainable beyond the HLF-funded period.

Impact: annual budget of £13,000 from Y6 (Y1-Y5 covered by Activity Plan funding).

Staff capacity

Learning strategy and activity managed and run by one part time member of staff: •

Education Officer (0.6 FTE).

A full time Education Officer Purpose: Additional workload around maintaining and directing strategy, managing learning volunteers, developing and delivering programme in enhanced facilities.

Impact: annual budget of c. £6,750 + inflation from Year 6. Additional capacity covered in the Activity Plan prior to this date.

Temporary staff capacity during construction period

Volunteer capacity

Volunteer training

During the construction phase and around re-opening the Museum will need to develop its new programmes and strategy, recruit and train specialist learning volunteers (see below), while continuing its existing learning programme.

A fixed term part-time education assistant to support the Learning officer during Y2 and Y3 in the development of new activities.

Impact: costs covered in the Activity Plan.

There are currently 4 learning volunteers:

Increase cohort of learning volunteers to a total of 6-8 to assist with:

•

2 helping with formal learning.

•

More informal learning.

•

2 helping with Young Archaeologists Club, which is currently oversubscribed.

•

Young Archaeologists Club School Groups.

•

Outreach work.

•

Village roadshow – taking objects out / identification days.

Very limited budget for specialist volunteer training (included in £2,000 p.a. budget for staff training and travel).

Learning volunteers will be likely to have experience in education; though will require training with regard to current practice, the new national curriculum and best practice in museum education.

Impact: increased annual training budget of £5,000 from Year 1.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 66

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Marketing

7.5 Marketing strategy and resources: DCM brand

Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Marketing strategy

Marketing strategy was last updated in 2012-13.

Updated and annually reviewed marketing strategy.

Need capacity to review and implement annually – currently only have capacity to deliver – no capacity to plan or evaluate impact.

See increased staff capacity below.

Marketing activities

Annual marketing budget of £17,200, equating to circa 50p per visit.

Increased annual budget, to begin following project completion.

Purpose: Marketing budget to match increased visitor number ambitions.

Impact: annual budget increased to £30,000 in the year prior to opening and £35,000 p.a. + inflation from then onwards.

Staff capacity

All marketing activity run and managed by one P/T member of staff:

Increased Marketing Manager Capacity (additional 0.2 FTE)

•

Purpose: Additional workload around maintaining and directing strategy, delivering expanded marketing spend.

Marketing Manager (0.6 FTE).

DCM’s future audience development ambitions and business model involve increasing the number of annual visits to the museum. The development of exhibitions and learning programmes and ongoing investment in collections and displays will provide the content to appeal to a wider range and greater number of visitors.

Nevertheless this development in the visitor experience and facilities will need to be accompanied by an increase in marketing activities.

These activities are aimed at the following audience segments: •

Visitors to Dorset (cultural tourists, adult visitors and families)

•

Local learning audiences (schools and other community groups)

•

Local audiences, including supporters, members and potential members

Consideration will also need to be given to the possible development of the DCM brand in the context of developing its marketing strategy.

Impact: annual budget of c. £5,800 + inflation from Year 6. Additional capacity covered in HLF funding prior to this date.

NB. In the event that visitor numbers exceeded 80,000 p.a. this capacity would be increased to 1.0 FTE. The DCM brand

DCM name, notably the word ‘County’ can be problematic:

Process of brand renewal / refresh as part of development of marketing strategy.

•

Some visitors assume it is a municipal museum which is funded by the County Council and should thus be free.

Impact: costs covered in the Activity Plan.

•

Perceptions of elitism.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 67

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development 7.6 Digital capacity

Analysis of existing and proposed resources: Digital capacity Activity

Current resource

Future requirement

Management and updating of DCM website

Managed by Director, Marketing Manager and Social Media volunteer. (Social media volunteer is paid 2 days per week, works 5 days).

Increased Social Media Volunteer capacity, to include at least 2 FTE volunteers (so up to 4-6 individuals) to reduce reliance on single individual.

Last renewed in 2011, with HLF support. Will be overhauled as part of photo digitisation process, 2015.

Will require further renewal on re-opening post-capital project.

Management and updating of social media presence

Social media volunteer.

As above: Increased Social Media Volunteer capacity, to include at least 2 FTE volunteers (so up to 4-6 individuals) to reduce reliance on single individual and to enable greater coverage and content generation across Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook.

DCM’s audience development ambitions (particularly with regard to younger visitors and family visitors) and its aspirations around digitisation and collections access will require an improved online / digital offer.

This will encompass a renewed website, but equally important will include a strategy and capacity to manage and maintain DCM’s presence on other online platforms from Facebook and YouTube to specialist art and collections platforms such as Google Cultural Institute and Your Paintings.

Digital capacity is also required for the on-going process of collections digitisation to support the improvement of the website and the museum’s ability to contribute to other platforms.

Likely to require engagement with younger volunteer.

Digitisation

Digitisation studio for photographs, comprising a scanner and computer. Photographs now being put online; also available for purchase online from 2015.

3D digitisation begun in geology as part of ‘fossil finder’ web resource in partnership with Jurassic Coast.

Digitisation of 2D objects including photographs, literature, library, prints.

Digital records for 3D objects: priorities are the most important pieces in archaeology, social history, costume and textiles.

Volunteers within context of new building (see collections management training budget above) and increased collections management budgets (see above) and increased IT.

Staff and volunteer capacity

See above.

Increased Marketing Manager capacity (see above in Marketing section).

Increased volunteer capacity (see above).

Renewal of website during construction/prior to opening

See above for current renewal plans.

Impact: costs covered in the Activity Plan.

Volunteer training

Very limited budget for specialist volunteer training (included in £2,000 p.a. budget for staff training and travel).

Social media volunteers will be likely to have ‘user’ experience in social media, though may require additional training.

Impact: increased annual training budget of £5,000 from Year 1.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 68

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development 7.7 Staff and volunteer capacity

Staff and volunteer capacity Existing organisation chart - March 2014

The adjacent chart describes our current staff and volunteer structure. The following page and narrative explains how this will develop following completion of the project.

Full time staff Part time staff Volunteer staff Advisory working groups DORSET NATURAL HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jon Murden SECRETARY / PA TO

ADVISORY WORKING GROUPS

THE DIRECTOR

Dorset Archaeological Committee

Anna Butler

Temporary Exhibitions Planning Group Editorial and Publications Working Group Development Working Group Fundraising Working Group

VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATOR

MAILING TEAM

Jill Minchin

Liz Arkell

Finance Working Group Personnel Working Group

FINANCE & GENERAL MANAGER Kath Fox

COLLECTIONS MANAGER

EDUCATION OFFICER Nicola Berry

Jenny Cripps

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

MARKETING MANAGER

FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER

FACILITIES MANAGER

Catherine Frost

Rachel Cole

Alison Goff

Ken Mumford

ASSISTANT COLLECTIONS MANAGER

EDUCATION

GUIDED TOURS

ADMINISTRATION ASST.

POSTER TEAM

SOCIAL MEDIA

MAINTENANCE

Helen Sergeant

TEAM

TEAM

Gill Harris

Liz Arkell

Mark North

TEAM

ARCHAEOLOGY TEAM

GEOLOGY TEAM

Richard Breward

Paul Tomlinson

HERBARIUM TEAM

LIBRARY TEAM

Peter Cramb

Brenda Turnock

FRONT OF HOUSE ASSISTANTS Carole Burden Emma Talbot Jane Yeo Susan Free

ART TEAM

NATURAL HISTORY

Gwen Yarker

Phillip SchoямБeld

HARDY TEAM

STW TEAM

FRONT OF HOUSE

TEA ROOM

Helen Gibson

Morine Krisdottir

VOLUNTEER TEAM

VOLUNTEER TEAM

SOCIAL HISTORY

PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM

Tony McKinder

Val Dicker

TEXTILES TEAM

DIGITISATION TEAM

Helen Francis

John Hilton

Full Time Staff

ENQUIRIES TEAM

DOCUMENTATION

David Ashford

Part Time Staff

John Hilton Volunteer Staff Advisory Working Group

Dorset County Museum November 2014 69

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development Additional staffing post-completion (not including staff / capacity required for development and delivery stage of the capital project – see section 15).

Staff and volunteer capacity Proposed Organisation Chart - First full operating year 2020-21 Full time staff

The table below summarises the required additional staff capacity that has been identified in order for the museum to develop as a sustainable organisation.

Part time staff Volunteer staff Advisory working groups

Staff

FTE

Recruitment

Apprentices DORSET NATURAL HISTORY & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Marketing

Additional 0.2 Manager

Year 2

Education Officer

Additional 0.4

Year 1

Education Assistant

Additional 0.6

Y2-3 Fixed term

Exhibitions and Events Manager

Additional 0.8

Year 2

Collections Manager

Additional 0.4

Year 1

Assistant Additional 0.6 Collections Manager

Year 1

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Jon Murden SECRETARY / PA TO

ADVISORY WORKING GROUPS

THE DIRECTOR

Dorset Archaeological Committee

Anna Butler

Temporary Exhibitions Planning Group Editorial and Publications Working Group Development Working Group Fundraising Working Group

VOLUNTEER ADMINISTRATOR

MAILING TEAM

Jill Minchin

Liz Arkell

Finance Working Group Personnel Working Group

FINANCE & GENERAL MANAGER

BUSINESS AND ADMIN APPRENTICE

Kath Fox

Additional volunteer capacity post - completion

COLLECTIONS MANAGER Jenny Cripps 0.6/1.0

EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS MANAGER 0.8

EDUCATION OFFICER Nicola Berry 0.7/1.0

MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY

MARKETING MANAGER

FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER

FACILITIES MANAGER

Catherine Frost

Rachel Cole 0.6/0.8

Alison Goff

Ken Mumford

ASSISTANT COLLECTIONS MANAGER Helen Sergeant 0.4/1.0

ARTS AND CREATIVE APPRENTICE

EDUCATION

GUIDED TOURS

ADMINISTRATION ASST.

POSTER TEAM

SOCIAL MEDIA

MAINTENANCE

TEAM

TEAM

Gill Harris

Liz Arkell

Mark North

TEAM

ADDITIONAL LEARNING VOLUNTEERS

ADDITIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA VOLUNTEERS

FRONT OF HOUSE ASSISTANTS Carole Burden

ARCHAEOLOGY TEAM

GEOLOGY TEAM

Richard Breward

Paul Tomlinson

Emma Talbot

HERBARIUM TEAM

LIBRARY TEAM

Susan Free

Peter Cramb

Brenda Turnock

ART TEAM

NATURAL HISTORY

Gwen Yarker

Phillip Schofield

Jane Yeo

HARDY TEAM

STW TEAM

Helen Gibson

Morine Krisdottir

TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY APPRENTICE

FRONT OF HOUSE

Full Time Staff

SOCIAL HISTORY

PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM

Tony McKinder

Val Dicker

Part Time Staff

TEXTILES TEAM

DIGITISATION TEAM

Volunteer Staff

Helen Francis

John Hilton

ENQUIRIES TEAM

DOCUMENTATION

David Ashford

John Hilton

VOLUNTEER TEAM

Advisory Working Group

The table below summarises the required additional staff capacity that has been identified in order for the museum to develop as a sustainable organisation.

Volunteers and apprentices

FTE

Recruitment

Learning volunteers

Additional 2-4 volunteers

Year 3

Social media volunteers

Total of 2.0 FTE

Year 1

Collections volunteers

Additional 20-24 volunteers (approx 2.0 FTE)

Year 2

Visitor experience volunteers

Additional 14 volunteers (approx 1.0 FTE)

Year 3

Re-deployment Front of house of current tea room volunteers volunteers

Year 2/3

Apprentices

Apprentices

3.0 FTE recruitment

Year 3

Dorset County Museum November 2014 70

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 7. Organisational Development 7.8 Governance

7.9 Trading

Dorset County Museum is owned and governed by the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (an educational charity with over 1800 members). The Society is an incorporated charitable trust and was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1997. Aside from the Museum Director, who is also a trustee of the Society, all other trustees are elected by the Society’s membership.

As part of its organisational development around the capital project, the retail and catering offer of the museum will grow and improve in response to improvements to the premises available for each and also to cater for the anticipated increase in visitor numbers. Details of how the business model for each of these areas will develop are included Section 8 (Business and Resources) below.

The Society’s Articles of Association were revised in 2012 and significant work has been undertaken to make the model of an active membership work for the Dorset County Museum.

Catering

The Board is both supportive and generates thinking about the museum’s future. It is committed to the success of the Museum and engaged practically and intellectually. Many trustees are themselves active volunteers and understand both the strengths and challenges of an organisation in which volunteers play such an active and important role.

DCM’s model of active volunteer engagement and governance is one that is regularly looked at by other organisations that are keen to replicate elements of DCM’s model. Recent advice regarding Governance and Membership has been provided by the Museum to Local Authorities looking to move to Trust and Royal Cornwall Museum, which is seeking to re-invigorate its existing membership model.

For the period of the capital project it is recognised that a temporary project governance model will need to be implemented to ensure that the board and membership remain fully appraised and in overall control of the project. The proposed model is outlined below in Section 15 (Development Phase Plan).

•

Catering operation will be relocated to the front of the Museum so that it has an independent street presence and is in front of the paywall.

•

The catering operation will be franchised, with a preference for a local operator with good understanding of specific market conditions and local suppliers.

•

The catering operator will serve as a partner in the Museum’s venue hire business.

•

Franchising the operation has the advantages of providing a more professional offer, removing an element of risk from the Museum and providing a regular monthly rental income.

•

The franchise will be let on a combination of basic rent and a % of turnover above an agreed amount.

•

The Museum is also exploring the possibility of continuing a basic catering offer elsewhere in the galleries, behind the paywall.

Retail

•

The Front of House manager currently has responsibility for catering and retail as well as FoH staff. This role will focus on retail and management.

Removing responsibility for catering will allow for a greater focus on retail in order to deliver an improved offer with increased contribution to the Museum.

•

Additional training will be available through local mentoring and exchanges, building on the existing relationship with local National Trust venues.

•

The salary of this post will be increased to take account for increased targets and levels of knowledge and responsibility required for an enhanced retail offer.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 71

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources

8. Business and Resources This section details our proposed future business model for the Museum, which will ensure the long-term transformational impact of the Collections Discovery Centre. It details the levels of expenditure that will be required to continue to manage, conserve and display our heritage, support our learning and audience development and manage and maintain our building and organisation.

Section 8 also describes how the project will enable us to develop our diverse income streams from admissions and catering to retail, venue hire and fundraising. A ten-year summary income and expenditure plan is included as Appendix D. Sections 8 and 9 will form the basis of our business plan, which will be developed during Stage 2.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 72

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.1 Introduction In order to provide for and sustain the necessary organisational development identified by the Museum in section 7, significant work has been undertaken by the Museum staff and trustees to develop a business model that balances pragmatism and ambition. The Director and Chairman of trustees have worked closely with Stephen Escritt at Counterculture Partnership to develop a model and associated 10-year business plan that the Museum will develop in order to sustain additional expenditure on: • Staffing • Collections management and conservation • Temporary exhibitions • Learning activities • Marketing • Premises costs • Overheads Additional income will be derived from a combination of increases in the following lines of earned and raised income: • Admissions income • Education admissions income • Fundraising for temporary exhibitions • Room hire income • Membership subscriptions • Catering income • Retail income There will be a decrease in: • Rental income • Investment income A 10-year summary income and expenditure forecast is included as Appendix D of this study. This summary includes four visit number scenarios ranging from 70,000 – 100,000 annual visits. As described in section 5 above, the 80,000 visits per annum figure is the primary scenario and all the figures described in this chapter are based on that primary scenario.

For the purposes of this Stage 1 application, the business plan is in today’s prices. Inflation has not been applied to the business model for two reasons: 1) At this stage, excluding inflation allows us to clearly present the changes in our business model by comparing like with like.

2) Our business model is primarily reliant of earned income from admissions, membership, retail and catering spend, all of which will increase in line with inflation along with our expenditure. As a result we are less vulnerable to inflationary pressures on our revenue projections than cultural organisations that are more reliant on grant or raised income.

A full business plan, which describes in detail the differences across our four scenarios and includes additional research and bench-marking will be undertaken during the development stage.

The following sections provide the narrative for the key proposed from the current business model (201415, Year -2) to the future post-HLF funding business model (2022-23, Year 6). For clarity the 9 years that the current projections cover are as follows: Business Plan Financial Year Year

Year -2 Year -1 Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7

Pre-Development Development phase Development phase HLF year 1 HLF year 2 HLF year 3 HLF year 4 HLF year 5 First post-HLF year Second post-HLF year

2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24

Project status /HLF funding year

8.2 Scenarios As a brief summary the main differences between our primary scenario (80,000 visitors) and our other scenarios (100,000, 90,000 and 70,000 visitors per annum) are as follows: 100,000 visitors (best case scenario) • Higher income from admissions, catering and retail • Increased expenditure on collections care • Increased expenditure on exhibitions (3 per year rather than 2) • Increased expenditure on marketing • Increased staff capacity in exhibitions and events and communications • Greater annual surplus to add to build reserves 90,000 visitors (better case scenario) • Higher income from admissions, catering and retail • Increased expenditure on collections care • Increased staff capacity in exhibitions and events and communications • Greater annual surplus to add to build reserves 70,000 visitors (worse case scenario) • Lower income from admissions, catering and retail • Lower contingency • Less additional expenditure on collections care • Less additional expenditure on gallery display and renewal • Less additional Assistant Collections Manager capacity

Dorset County Museum November 2014 73

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.3 Expenditure (primary scenario, 80,000 visitors)

Dorset County Museum: Expenditure by % 2014-15

8.3.1 Overview DCM’s total expenditure in 2014/15 is £361,774, which breaks down as follows: 2014/15 Expenditure

. . .

Dorset County Museum: Expenditure by % 2022-23

£

Staffing and staff costs Education resources Temporary Exhibitions Gallery Display and Renewal Collections Care Lectures and events Marketing BID Premises Overheads Contingency

Total

207,059 12,960 15,000 0 3,600 2,000 17,200 1,100 75,900 26,955 0 361,774

Following the Museum’s forthcoming capital project, the turnover of the Museum is set to increase by around 50%. There will be increased expenditure on the premises, collections, displays and temporary exhibitions. This spending responds to the Museum’s ambitions to provide for a sustainable future for its collections and provide an enhanced permanent and temporary offer to attract a wider range and greater number of visitors.

Spending on staffing will also increase, with added capacity in a number of areas. However by 2022 as a percentage of turnover, staffing costs will have reduced from 57% to 49%. Spending on collections displays and exhibitions will increase proportionally from 5% to a total of 11% of turnover.

2022/23 Expenditure

.

£

Staffing and staff costs Education resources Temporary Exhibitions Gallery Display and Renewal Collections Care Lectures and events Marketing BID Premises Overheads Contingency

Total

266,345 13,000 35,000 10,000 15,000 5,000 35,000 1,100 100,250 46,500 15,543 542,738

Dorset County Museum November 2014 74

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.3.2 Staffing The current staffing model (2014-15), as illustrated in section 7.7 above has annual budget (including on costs) of £207,059.

Additional staff capacity for learning, marketing, exhibitions, collections management during Years 1-5 of the project is included in the Activity Plan.

By year 6, in the primary scenario (80,000 visits per annum) the museum will have the following additional staff capacity:

•

The budget for the direct costs of education activities will therefore remain relatively stable (in today’s prices) at £13,000 p.a., with increased staff and volunteer capacity falling outside this budget.

8.3.4 Exhibition costs The Museum will spend £15,000 on temporary exhibitions this year, ranging from a curated photography exhibition to displays of local artists. This spending is comprised of the following expenditure: •

Production costs

•

Marketing Manager (additional 0.2 FTE)

•

Programme Marketing

•

Education Officer (additional 0.4 FTE)

•

Insurance

•

Exhibitions and Events Officer (0.8 FTE)

•

Loan Transport

•

Collections Manager (additional 0.4 FTE)

•

Opening event / private views

•

Assistant Collections Manager (additional 0.6 FTE)

•

Graphic design

Before taking into account inflation these posts equate to an £56,286 annual expenditure for the museum (NB this does not include the costs of catering staff, as the catering operation will be outsourced postcompletion).

•

Freelance curators

There is also an increase in the allowance for training and travel from £2,000 currently to £5,000 in Y6.

8.3.3 Education activities Current expenditure on Learning activities in 2014/15 is £12,960. This is made up of spending on the following:

Key changes in 2022/23: •

•

The temporary exhibitions strategy for the Museum to concentrate on showing two higher profile, high quality exhibitions a year.

Spending will be on the same range of costs, but expenditure will be more than doubled (at today’s prices) to £35,000 in order to deliver fewer, higher quality, higher impact exhibitions.

8.3.5 Gallery display and renewal

•

Materials.

•

Specialist support staff (freelancers).

•

Learning events.

•

Travel and subsistence.

DCM has no defined annual budget for the renewal of its permanent gallery displays. Galleries are renewed from time-to-time with specific grants. In the interim, there is some ad hoc spending of the collections management budget when items on display require conservation or re-mounting.

•

Marketing for programmes and events.

Key changes in 2022/23:

Key changes in 2022/23: •

There will be increased levels of activity delivered by an enhanced staff and volunteer capacity. This will result in a reduction in the amount of freelance specialist support staff required and an increase in expenditure on materials and events.

•

•

The Museum’s displays and interpretation will have been renewed as part of the capital project and the Museum is committed to maintaining and updating displays and interpretation in order to break the historical cycle of underinvestment which has led to reactive renewal and maintenance.

An annual budget of £10,000 has been allowed for following the capital project which will be allocated to: - Renewal of interpretation - Renewal of interactives - Conservation of objects on display or objects that are being rotated for display - Materials relating to displays, such as mounts, stands etc.

8.3.6 Collections costs In 2014/15 the Museum has allocated £3,600 towards Collections Costs, primarily expenditure on conservation materials such as foam boards, gloves, acid free paper etc.

Key changes in 2022/23: •

It is acknowledged that current levels of expenditure are not sustainable for a collection of 4 million objects.

The capital project will provide enhanced space and facilities to make a wider range of conservation activities possible.

There will be increased volunteer capacity to undertake conservation work Accordingly an increased budget for conservation materials will be required and an allowance has been made for £15,000 within the increased turnover of the renewed museum.

This level of expenditure represents a baseline ambition for the Museum and in scenarios with higher visit numbers and increased income it is intended to increase spending in this area by a corresponding amount.

8.3.7 Marketing Current annual expenditure on marketing the Museum is £17,200. This equates to circa £0.50 per visit.

This encompasses spending on printed materials, advertising and website and other online tools.

Additional project or exhibition specific marketing is also included in the education and exhibition budgets.

Key changes in 2022/23: • •

The Museum seeks to double its number of visits to 80,000 per annum Much of this growth will come from tourists and other visitors to Dorset

Dorset County Museum November 2014 75

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources • •

•

In order to deliver this growth increased marketing spend and capacity will be required.

The core marketing budget will be increased by more than double to £35,000. This will be augmented by increased spend within the exhibition and education budgets and by increased staff capacity with the Marketing Manager moving to 0.8 FTE In higher visit number scenarios, the Marketing Manager becomes 1.0 FTE and Marketing spend will be increased by an additional £10,000 per annum.

8.3.8 Premises costs Current expenditure (Y-2, 14/15) is £75,900, which breaks down as follows: Premises costs

Water Rates

Insurance

Utilities Rent - All Saints

Building maintenance Security

Cleaning

Total

Year -2 £ 4,800 16,200 31,000 8,250 4,800 5,450 5,400 75,900

Proposed expenditure (22/23) (prior to the application of inflation) is £100,250: Year 6 Premises cost

£ Water Rates 6,800 Insurance 20,000

43,000 Utilities Rent - All Saints

15,000 Building maintenance Security 5,450

Cleaning 10,000

Total 100,250

8.3.9 Overheads Current expenditure (Y-2, 14/15) is £26,955, which breaks down as follows: Overheads

Office costs

Computer & IT Telephone/fax Licenses and Subscriptions Bank & Credit Card Charges Audit & Accountancy Other Professional fees Sundry Expenses

Total

Year -2 £ 4,200 7,000 4,345 1,500 4,000 2,750 2,800 360 26,955

Proposed expenditure (22/23) (prior to the application of inflation) is £46,500: Overheads

Office costs

Computer & IT Telephone/fax Licenses and Subscriptions Bank & Credit Card Charges Audit & Accountancy Other Professional fees Sundry Expenses

Total

Year 6 £ 6,000 12,000 5,000 5,000 8,000 5,000 5,000 500 46,500

Increases in budget lines are commensurate with increased organisational size / staff contingent. Audit fees are higher because of the increased size of the business. There is a notable increase in IT costs due to significant additional volunteer IT provision, enhanced digital activity, web access and connectivity between curatorial departments.

Increases in budget lines are commensurate with increased spaces. Increase in building maintenance reflects ambition for a capital renewal strategy to enable the new building asset to be well maintained.

Any unspent building maintenance budget will be added to a designated capital renewal reserve.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 76

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.4 Income (primary scenario, 80,000 visitors)

Dorset County Museum: Income by % 2014-15

8.4.1 Overview DCM’s current income for 2014/15 is £367,605, which 9 breaks down as follows: Income 2014-15

Admissions Learning Fundraising and donations Local Authority and other grants Royalties Rental Room Hire Other (inc. investments) Membership net income Retail net income Catering net income

Total

£ 87,000 12,900 47,500 89,500 3,850 29,700 3,750 17,100 38,732 20,250 17,323 367,605

Over the next few years DCM’s ambitions around temporary exhibitions, gallery displays and interpretation are the basis of an audience development strategy which will result in an increase in the number of paying visitors and an according increase in secondary spend on retail and catering.

Dorset County Museum: Income by % 2022-23

9

Comparing the breakdown of income (by percentage) between the current year and the projection for 2022-23 (the first post-HLF year of the transformed museum), it is apparent that the primary change in the Museum’s business model is the increase in percentage of earned income from admissions, catering and retail from a current total of 34% to a future level of 55%.

Fundraising and Membership income will remain in the region of 22-24%, while local authority and other grant income will not increase in line with the organisation, reducing in proportion from 24% to 15%.

The following sections provide summary narratives of the primary changes in these income streams.

8.4.2 Admissions The Museum charges for admissions for adults and unaccompanied under 16s. Children visiting with paying adults are free. In 2014/15 it is anticipated there will be 20,000 paying visits (out of a total of 46,000) with an average charge of £4.35 (allowing for concessions and Gift Aid), yielding and income of £87,000.

Key changes in 2022/23 will be:

Alongside this primary area of growth, the Museum will seek to increase its revenue fundraising targets and membership income in line with the growth of the oragnisation.

•

Increase in paying adult visits from 20,000 (14/15) to 42,000 yielding a total of £182,700 (assuming the same average charge; inflation has not yet been applied in order to be able to compare like with like)

It is assumed however that local authority income will not increase and that rental income from the convenience store will cease, to be replaced by increased catering income due to the street front presence of the new café.

•

Introduction of £2 charge for all children (whether visiting with a family group or with a school group).

This will remove a current discrepancy between how children are charged (currently free if with a family, but £3.60 if with a self-directed school).

Assuming half of all current free visits are children with family, this will generate £25,000 of income in 2022-23.

Income 2022-23 Admissions Learning Fundraising and donations Local Authority and other grants Royalties Rental Room Hire Other (inc. investments) Membership net income Retail net income Catering net income

Total

£ 207,700 15,500 68,300 79,500 3,850 3,000 6,000 13,100 57,031 41,770 52,000 547,750

8.4.3 Education admissions income The Museum projects that it will generate £11,400 from education admissions in 2014-15. This comprises £3.60 per child fee charged to schools for self-led visits, plus specific workshop /guided visit charges that are paid by schools at a higher rate.

Key changes in 2022/23: •

Reduction in per child charge for self-directed visits to £2 bringing fees in line with the charge introduced for children visiting with families.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 77

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources •

Increase in the number of education admissions from 5000 to 7000.

•

Moderate resulting increase in education admissions income to £14,000 per annum.

8.4.4 Fundraising for temporary exhibitions, collections displays and other projects In 2014/15 DCM will have raised a total of £34,200 towards temporary exhibitions, collections and outreach and community projects. There is no specific fundraising capacity and the Director and senior volunteers undertake most fundraising.

8.4.6 Membership subscriptions In 2014/15 Membership subscriptions and income from the Proceedings of the Society will make a net contribution to the Museum of £38,732 Key changes in 2022/23: •

The transformation of the Museum present the opportunity to undertake a major membership drive, with the ambition to increase membership by 50% over the next 8 years.

•

Before taking inflation into account, an increase of this order would raise the contribution made by members to £57,031 p.a. by 2022-23 (in today’s prices to allow for comparison).

Key changes in 2022/23: •

•

•

Higher profile temporary exhibitions programme of 2 major exhibitions per annum. These will have an increased budget but will offer increased opportunities for fundraising, partnership funding etc.

New post of Exhibitions and Events organiser, the job description for which will include supporting fundraising for this programme. This will deliver increased capacity without going down the route of employing a dedicated fundraiser, which would be unlikely to be cost-effective given the amounts to be raised and the scale of the programme.

Increased annual target from £34,000 to £60,000. (in today’s prices to allow for comparison).

8.4.7 Catering income Catering at DCM is run on a volunteer model with no direct staff costs. The café is in a small space within the museum. It does not have any natural light and is not visible from the street front. It will make a net contribution of £17,323 to the Museum in 2014-15.

Key changes in 2022/23: •

•

8.4.5 Room hire income The 2014/15 target for this income line is £3,000.

Key changes in 2022/23: •

Improved spaces, including the new learning space available for hire.

•

Introduction of event catering offer through the franchise catering partner, meaning that major hires (weddings, large catered events) will be part of the increased catering contribution (see below)

•

Resulting modest increase in targets for smaller scale hires from £3,000 to £6,000 (in today’s prices to allow for comparison).

The proposed changes to the museum will result in an enhanced café space and kitchen with a street facing presence.

The catering offer will increase in scale and range of offer and will be franchised to an external provider, with a preference for a local operator that understands the market for catering and events in the Dorchester area.

•

Given the scale and location of the proposed café, a basic rent of £27,000 p.a. in today’s prices has been proposed, based on advice from local specialists and also the level of rent currently achieved by the Museum on the convenience store premises.

•

There will be an additional % of turnover income in the catering contract in the event of the catering proving particularly successful, however, in the interests of prudence, this has not been included in the present projections.

•

The caterers will jointly run an events business with museum offering major catered events in the Victorian hall. It is projected that this business will grow organically over the four-year period following reopening so that by 2022 it contributes £25,000 to the museum.

•

As a result it is proposed catering and catered events activities will make an annual contribution of £52,000 in today’s prices.

8.4.8 Retail income The DCM shop is situated in a relatively constrained space in the hallway of the Museum. It is managed by the Front of House Manager and staffed by volunteers.

It currently makes a contribution of £20,250 per annum to the Museum.

Key changes in 2022/23: •

The proposed changes to the museum will result in an enhanced retail space with a street-facing presence.

•

The retail offer will increase in scale and range of offer.

•

It will continue to be managed by the Front of House manager who will be able to concentrate on retail, as managing the volunteer catering will no longer be part of this job description.

•

A larger number of annual visits will result in an accordingly increased retail spend.

•

The projection for the net retail contribution in 2022-23 is £41,770, based on a conversion rate of 30% of visitors with an average spend of £5.50 including VAT (at today’s prices to allow for comparison).

•

To allow for prudence, this figure does not include spend by non-visitors.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 78

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.6 Analysis of Economic Impact

Data Type

8.5 10-year business plan: managing revenue cash flow during construction 2013 –2014 (actual)

2022 – 2023 (projected)

1. Annual Visitor Figures 1.1 Overall visits

46,153 (38,063)

80,000

2. Tourism Impact 2.1 Local Visitors (£21.72) pp AIM Toolkit : Dorset 2014 spend assumptions

£454,700

£788,161

2.2 Day Trippers (£43.45) pp AIM Toolkit : Dorset 2014 spend assumptions

£578,843

£1,003,346

2.3 Overnight (£55.45) pp AIM Toolkit : Dorset 2014 spend assumptions

£211,059

£365,842

Total Gross Visitor Spend Impact per annum (at today’s prices)

£1,244,602

£2,157,349

3. Volunteer impact 3.1 Volunteer Hours

3.2. Economic value of volunteer contribution HLF Unskilled Volunteer Rates Applied

17,250 per annum

£862,500

27,250 per annum

(estimated additional 10,000 hours of 5.5 FTE of volunteer time)

£1,362,500

4.2 GDP impact of expenditure assuming average multiplier of 1.79 (using range of applicable ONS Output and Employment Cost Multipliers) 5. Added Value 5.1 Grants & Sponsorship levered

Total combined value of visitor spend, institutional spend and value of volunteer hours

The Museum anticipates being able to remain open for some of the construction period however the café and shop will need to close for longer periods. Lost income from catering and retail, coupled with reduced admissions and hire income, will result in a projected cumulative revenue deficit of circa. £140,000 over the construction period.

The Museum’s current reserves position does not allow for this level of planned deficit, so an alternative strategy has been adopted.

Conversations are underway with the local authorities to put in place a low / no interest bridging loan that will cover this amount and be repaid from planned surpluses in the 2-3 years following re-opening.

HLF support for posts and activities in the period immediately following completion will augment the Museum’s earned income. As a result, larger than usual surpluses will be recorded in the first 2-3 years of reopening, repaying the construction period deficits and contributing towards renewing the Museum’s reserves. Following the end of HLF support DCM’s annual budgets will return to a modest surplus position.

In September 2014, as part of its service review, West Dorset County Council commissioned Victoria de Witt (County Museums Advisor to DCC and Poole and Bournemouth Borough Councils) to undertake a comparative study of the economic impact of the area’s museums. Using these independently produced figures as a basis for quantifying our current impact, we have estimated the additional annual economic impact of the renewed DCM, as shown in the adjacent table.

In conclusion this overview shows that the Collections Discovery Project will increase the combined economic impact of the Museum by circa 65% or around £1.78m per annum.

This excludes the economic impact of the capital build itself, which it is estimated will lead to circa 50 jobs during the construction period.

There will also be an increase of 50% in the permanent FTE staffing level at the Museum and the creation of three apprenticeships, the annual economic impact of which is picked up in the increase in the GDP impact of the Museum’s expenditure.

Please note that the current income and expenditure projections for the 9 year period have not yet been inflation adjusted.

4. GDP impact of Museum expenditure 4.1 Annual Expenditure (including employment)

Because a significant proportion of DCM’s income is derived from trading relating to visitors (admissions, catering and retail), the Museum has had to consider how it will manage its cash flow during the construction phase of the project.

8.6 Economic Impact

£337,574

£544,328

£604,257

£974,547

£300k from HLF for redevelopment of Archaeology Gallery. £4k for acquisition of new Barnes collection

Annual revenue fundraising target of £60,000, exclusive of larger one-off capital amounts

£2,711,359

£4,494,396

Dorset County Museum November 2014 79

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.7 Conclusion: A financially sustainable organisation for the future

In order to deliver this vision a series of key capital interventions are required:

It will be necessary to achieve a step-change in the Museum’s facilities in order to generate the level of annual income and business resilience necessary for the Museum to sustainably invest in its heritage assets and support its programme of exhibitions, learning and collections displays.

•

Renewed permanent Gallery spaces with interpretation and displays that meet the expectations of a broader range and greater number of paying visitors.

•

A fit for purpose temporary exhibition space, suited for showing significant high-quality temporary exhibitions.

•

Street facing catering and retail offers with enhanced spaces (in terms of area and quality).

•

Collections management facilities that support the exhibition and display ambitions and support increasing expectations around digital access.

Increased income from admissions, retail and catering is predicated on a significant improvement of the museum’s temporary and permanent exhibitions offer and realigned catering and retail spaces to provide improved quality, range and visibility.

The increased income and expanded programme will in turn enable a greater level of collections care and access, which will support the quality of displays, exhibitions and public programme.

Pharoah: King of Egypt - a touring exhibition loaned to Dorset in 2011/12 by the British Museum. This was an early indicator of the potential audience for the Museum if the fundamental offer were to be improved.

The vision for DCM is to create a virtuous circle of increased earned and membership income and capacity to raise additional funds for a high profile programme, which matches the modern requirements of the collections and visitor expectations. This virtuous circle will break the previous cycle of underinvestment that has placed the collections and the Museum’s business model at risk.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 80

Part Four : Building Organisational Resilience 8. Business and Resources 8.8.1 Staff capacity Outcomes

Baseline

Additional staff capacity will be developed and sustained in order to deliver all of the above outcomes – particularly around learning, volunteer management and marketing

Current staffing = 8.15 FTE. Post HLF funding period, the proposed staff model will have an additional 2.3 FTE

8.8 Summary of Desired Outcomes for Resilience and Sustainability Drawing on the required changes to the Museum’s business and operational model, the desired outcomes for resilience and sustainability are around four themes: • •

8.8.2 Collections and Building Maintenance Outcomes

Baseline

•

The Museum will develop a more diverse and sustainable range of income streams to support the ongoing care and maintenance of the collections and buildings.

Current income model as summarised above in section 8.3.1

•

The Museum building will be more environmentally sustainable, with facilities designed from the outset to be energy efficient, and within a rationalised and consolidated estate that is substantially more cost efficient to operate.

Current utilities spend p.a = £31,000 (£11.38 psm, p.a.)

Activities currently split across six buildings in various states of (dis)repair.

The Museum will be designed for growth, enabling the heritage collections to continue to be developed in the future.

Five years growth (maximum) in archaeology collection, no growth capacity in other collecting areas.

Staff capacity (HLF outcome: Your organisation will be more resilient) Collections and Building Maintenance (HLF outcomes: Your organisation will be more resilient / environmental impacts will be reduced) Streamlining the estate (HLF outcomes: Your organisation will be more resilient / environmental impacts will be reduced) Developing the business model (HLF outcome: Your organisation will be more resilient / your local economy will be boosted)

8.8.3 Developing the business model Outcomes

Baseline

The transformational impact of the project will create an organisation that can self-sustain increased levels of activity that the new museum will undertake.

Current business model can only sustain limited activity within existing facilities. Future model as articulated in the business plan to sustain enhanced levels of activity in new facilities.

Increased income generation opportunities from admissions, catering, retail and events will fundamentally uplift revenue levels.

Current annual revenue from these three sources is £136,000 per annum

A systematic approach to revenue fundraising, including relevant staff capacity, will be developed and embedded into the organisation.

Current approach to fundraising is ad hoc and opportunistic, due to lack of capacity.

The Museum will have an increased economic impact.

New jobs will be created in the permanent Museum staff and through the development, design and construction process. In the long-term, as a result of more significantly more visitors to the Museum, the local economy will be boosted through increased spending and economic activity in Dorset by cultural tourists.

Current impact calculated at £2,711,359 per annum.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 81

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan

9. Outline Activity Plan A detailed Activity Plan is a requirement of a stage two application to HLF. As a step towards the Activity Plan this section presents an outline Schedule of Activities. The Schedule represents the core planned activities directly associated with the Collections Discovery Centre and the development planning required to support a stage two submission.

The proposed activities will further benefit from, and develop through, additional consultation, collaboration and evaluation as proposed above in our strategy for involving people during the development phase of the project.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 82

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan 9.1 Developing a provisional Activity Plan During the HLF development stage the Museum will develop a detailed activity plan to deliver the priority actions identified so far as well as those that emerge from the more detailed consultation that will take place during the delivery phase.

a number of priorities for audience development have been identified (some of which overlap with the learning priorities above). These are described in Section 4.8 and repeated here for ease of reference: •

Consultation so far has consisted on qualitative and quantitative research with volunteers, staff, audiences, non-visitors, stakeholders and potential partners.

Priorities As part of the recent review of learning undertaken by Natalie Chambers, the museum team has identified priority actions that will help them to: 1. Build on or maintain the Museum’s strengths 2. Limit, remedy or stop weaknesses 3. Prioritise and develop opportunities 4. Minimise or counter threats •

•

• • •

•

•

•

Renew the learning and participation strategy, endorsed and implemented across the Museum, that plans for the development and sustainable delivery of a new service and identifies ways of overcoming existing barriers to learning.

Use the strengths of the collections and the unique building as a starting point to renew and develop the learning offer to schools, tailored to the new National Curriculum 2014.

Develop a designated space for learning that is an inspiring base from which to explore the Museum and its collections.

Refresh and renew the Museum’s interpretation to make it more consistent, accessible and compliant with DDA guidelines.

Develop a learning programme to meet the needs of the museum’s target audience groups that celebrates the collections and provides a wide range of opportunities to handle and interact with high quality artefacts and resources.

Work with local partners to develop a range of inhouse and outreach sessions to give local people the opportunity to engage with our collections, including specialist work with key target audiences identified through the consultation process.

Create new volunteer and learning posts to improve the strength and widen the skills of our volunteering team and to support the work of the Education Officer.

Work in partnership with local groups and organisations to better understand the Museum’s learning audience, develop a coordinated offer and provide effective marketing.

In addition, following the audience research and consultation undertaken to prepare for this proposal,

•

•

• • • • • • •

Respond to a desire for a changing offer by instigating a new approach to temporary exhibitions: 2-3 high quality exhibitions per year: Exhibitions will be either: • Self -generated/ curated with loan exhibits • Compiled from DCM’s own material/resources • Brought in from other museums Renew display and interpretation of the collection to provide an easily communicable grand narrative and encourage Increase visitor awareness of stories, layers of meaning, and link between collections.

Respond to desire for interaction and multiple layers of interpretation to access the collections by: • Re-appraising approaches and strategies for interpretation so that it is as inclusive as possible for audiences – from educated adult visitors to those with young families • Introduction of mobile inter-activity • Introduction of visitor experience volunteers to provide in-gallery interpretation • Public conservation activities on a rota schedule basis • Provision of improved self directed materials for different age groups Developing programme and marketing links with other organisations, such as the new Hardy Centre, Shire Hall and Dorset History Centre.

Develop a greater understanding locally about what the Museum does, what it is and how people can become involved.

Developing the marketing strategy and increasing the marketing budget to target priority audience segments.

Increasing marketing and communications staff capacity.

Improving the on-street visibility of the Museum and communication via the façade of the contents and programme of the Museum.

Improved visibility and street presence.

Develop the Museum as a hub and resource for other organisations.

The Activities will be integral in delivering the outcomes for Heritage, People and Communities as identified in Section 6 and will also develop the framework for the delivery of the Museum’s programmes and activities following the end of HLF support for the project. The post-HLF business model presented in section 8 of this report describes how the Museum proposes to maintain an appropriate level of staffing and activities in the medium to long-term.

This outline Activity Plan assumes a 5-year Activity period including 2 years during which the capital project will take place (Y1 and Y2) and three years following completion (Y3, Y4 and Y5).

Taken together these priorities have informed the Museum’s thinking around the likely focus of its Activity Plan for the Collections Discovery Centre project.

The Museum’s work so far has suggested a range of activities that it will undertake to respond to these needs and then embed in its business and operating model in order transform the Museum’s long-term impact following project completion.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 83

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan Activity

Lead Responsibility

Description

Estimated Cost*

HLF Outcome

Additional education / learning staff capacity to become permanent after HLF period

Director / Learning Manager

Learning Manager to become full time (additional 0.4) from Y1

£10,800 p.a. x 4 = £43,200

• •

People will have learnt about heritage Your organisation will be more resilient

Learning Manager

Education assistant (0.6, Y3-5)

£12,765 p.a. x 2 = £25,530

• •

People will have learnt about heritage Your organisation will be more resilient

Lack of adequate staff capacity to manage collections volunteers and conservation activities: Lack of capacity to update permanent displays

Additional collections staff capacity to become permanent after HLF period

Director / Collections Manager

Collections manager to become full time (additional 0.4) from Y1

£9,200 p.a. x 5 = £46,000

• • •

Heritage will be better managed Heritage will be in better condition Your organisation will be more resilient

Collections Manager

Assistant Collections Manager to become full time (additional 0.6) from Y1

£13,800 p.a. x 5 = £69,000

• • •

Heritage will be better managed Heritage will be in better condition Your organisation will be more resilient

Delivery of high quality temporary exhibitions: Lack of staff capacity to organise exhibitions: Lack of capacity to update interpretation

Additional exhibitions and interpretation staff capacity to become permanent after HLF period

Director

Exhibitions and Events manager (1.0) Y2-4

£27,600 p.a. x 3.5 = £96,600

• •

People will have learnt about heritage Heritage will be better interpreted and explained People will have had an enjoyable experience Your organisation will be more resilient

Identified Need

Staff capacity Lack of adequate learning staff capacity

• •

Subtotal, Activity Plan Staffing

£280,330

Exhibitions, collections, displays and interpretation Delivery of high quality temporary exhibitions: Cost of delivering opening exhibition

Exhibitions and Events Manager

No contemporary collecting of social history – need to move collection on from 1950 objects

Delivery of the opening ‘blockbuster’ exhibition (Hardy – Fashion, Fact and Fiction, see Appendix J for concept details) of the new Collections Discovery Centre: Development of exhibition opportunities offered by strategic partnership with national institutions.

Lack of contemporary social history material about work and domestic life in Dorchester

Development of strategy; Activity to find and encourage gifts of recent social history items

Director / Collections Manager

Costs of exhibition including: Freelance staff costs, conservation, photography, display equipment and materials, loans, transportation, marketing

£74,920

• • • •

Preparation of contemporary collecting strategy; Events and identification days / roadshows

Assistant collections management time

• •

Costs of roadshows £1,000 x 3 years = £3,000

• • • •

Oral history project to collect contemporary Collections Manager material, including training in oral history collection and radio production techniques for young people to get involved in carrying out this work

Oral history project in partnership with Windrose, a local radio station and youth training organisation, to produce ‘A Library of Lives’ focused on work and domestic lives in Dorchester. (see Appendix J for outline activity concept)

£15,000 (over 3 years)

• •

People will have learnt about heritage Heritage will be better interpreted and explained People will have had an enjoyable experience More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage Heritage will be better interpreted and explained People will have had an enjoyable experience Heritage will be better identified and recorded Your organisation will be more resilient More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage Heritage will be better identified and recorded People will have learnt about heritage

Dorset County Museum November 2014 84

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan Identified Need

Activity

Lead Responsibility

Description

Estimated Cost*

HLF Outcome

Informal learning work with older visitors

Learning Manager

Work in partnership with the Dorset Dementia Action Alliance to establish facilitated sessions stimulated by objects for dementia sufferers and carers based on the successful model used by the Museum of Modern Art in New York

Staff time to develop partnership and workshop. Materials £2,000 p.a. x 3 years = £6,000

•

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage

Learning Manager

Establish a reminiscence group for older visitors / community groups

Staff time to develop programme. Materials £300 p.a. x 3 years = £900

•

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage

Informal learning Significantly older than average local/ county demographic Learning Manager

Significantly older than average local/ county demographic: Strategic health requirements (e.g. Mental health etc.)

A series of workshops / creative arts Collections Manager / projects and the loan of Museum objects to Learning Manager be displayed in healthcare environments

Work in partnership with Arts in Hospital at DCH NHS FT; insurance and interpretation of works; cost of workshop resources

4 loans per year = £1,200 p.a. x 5 = £6,000

•

Under-7 provision

Explorer backpacks and trails

Backpacks Materials Printed material 15 x sets

£1,500 set up costs Renewal line in revenue budget

•

Year round series of ‘parent and child’ drop-in art and craft / science and nature workshops

Staff time to develop workshops Materials £100 p.a. x 5 = £500

•

Introduction of previously prototyped Rainbow Club for Under-5s and Dino Club for Under-7s Under-15 provision

Learning Manager

Learning Manager

•

•

•

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage

Continuation of Make and Do family activity Learning Manager programme

The existing series of school holiday workshops would have a more targeted age range following the introduction of a specific offer for the under-7s

Staff time to develop workshops Materials £100 p.a. x 5 = £500

•

Expansion of the Young Archaeologist Club

Greater staff capacity and improved facilities would allow for the growth of this group to accommodate young people on existing waiting list.

Staff and volunteer time to deliver additional sessions, Materials £100 p.a. x5 = £500

• •

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage

A series of workshops/structured visits tailored to the NC requirements of local schools.

Staff time to develop workshops £2,000

• •

People will have learnt about heritage Your organisation will be more resilient

Learning Manager

•

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have learnt about heritage

Formal learning Collections based Learning resources for new National Curriculum

Development of new primary and secondary school workshops – including new ‘hands-on’ practical dig sessions focused on the Roman archaeological potential of the Museum’s courtyards (See Appendix K for details)

Learning Manager

* (NB all salaries include on-costs) excluding VAT where applicable

Dorset County Museum November 2014 85

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan Activity

Lead Responsibility

Description

Estimated Cost*

HLF Outcome

Need to develop membership base to build engagement and volunteering

Local membership campaign during and after the capital project.

Marketing Manager

Materials, distribution, events

Y2-3; £3,000

•

Need for a more dynamic web/digital offer, including digital material/data for sharing

Equipment and training to enable volunteer Marketing Manager programme of digitisation of objects

Camera(s), scanner(s) and IT / imaging training for staff and volunteers

Y2-3; £20,000

• • •

People will have volunteered time Your organisation will be more resilient More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage

IT equipment and consultancy/training to establish consistent online collections database

Collections Manager

Professional fees and equipment

£12,000

• • •

Heritage will be identified/recorded Your organisation will be more resilient More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage

New DCM website

Marketing Manager

Design and build of new DCM website with capacity for collections and learning interaction.

Consider ecommerce / ticketing system?

Y1-2; £12,000

•

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage Heritage will be better interpreted and explained Your organisation will be more resilient

Identified Need Audience Development

• •

(for young people, 12+ and older visitors)

• •

Smartphone / mobile interpretation app / i beacon app

Marketing Manager / Learning Manager

Design and build of Smartphone / mobile interpretation app

Y1-2; £20,000

• • •

More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage People will have volunteered time Your organisation will be more resilient

•

Heritage will be better interpreted People will have learnt about heritage More people, and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage Your organisation will be more resilient

Volunteering Need for communications/digital volunteer capacity

Recruitment and retention of cohort of communications volunteers to maintain website, provide online content, including You Tube channel and other social media content

Marketing Manager

Recruitment, retention, training and reward of volunteers

Y1-5; £4,500

• • •

People will have volunteered time People will have developed skills Your organisation will be more resilient

Need for extra learning volunteer capacity

Recruitment and retention of cohort of learning volunteers to work on formal and informal learning

Learning Manager

Recruitment, retention, training and reward of volunteers

Y3-5; £5,000

• • • •

People will have volunteered time People will have developed skills Your organisation will be more resilient People will have learnt about heritage

Introduction of active invigilation / live interpretation by volunteers

Recruitment and retention of cohort of live interpretation volunteers to work in galleries

Learning Manager

Recruitment, retention, training and reward of volunteers

Part of learning volunteer training above

• • • •

People will have volunteered time People will have developed skills Your organisation will be more resilient People will have learnt about heritage

Introduction of in- gallery conservation work

Training of collections management volunteers to be able to undertake in gallery conservation activities

Collections Manager

Training of volunteers

Part of learning volunteer training above

• • •

People will have volunteered time People will have developed skills People will have learnt about heritage Dorset County Museum November 2014 86

Part Five: Our Project 9. Outline Activity Plan Identified Need

Activity

Lead Responsibility

Description

Estimated Cost*

HLF Outcome

Director

1 year apprenticeships x 3 years

£13,000 x 3 years= £39,000

• • •

People will have developed skills Your local economy will be boosted Your organisation will be more resilient

Training Lack of pathways into employment for local Paid apprenticeships in the areas of young people leading to net migration from collections management, administration Dorset of 20-35 year olds and hospitality.

Lack of pathways into employment for young people in HE studying archaeology

The provision of formal student placements Director at the museum.

Post-excavation training in museum archaeology in partnership with University of Bournemouth

Current archaeology volunteer team in additional spaces.

Travel expenses – In the holidays, 2 days per week 2 days x 14weeks x 14= £800 + £250 p.a. £3,150

• • •

People will have volunteered time People will have developed skills Your organisation will be more resilient

Need for young people in HE to develop their own research interests and abilities

The promotion of the new opportunities provided by the Collections Discovery Centre for students to research the collections, particularly in archaeology and literature.

Develop a series outreach and engagement events for Archaeology students at Bournemouth University and English Students at University of Exeter.

Staff time to develop partnerships and events.

Materials £100 p.a. x 5 = £500

• •

People will have developed skills Your organisation will be more resilient

Director

Subtotal, Activity Plan Activities

£229,970

TOTAL ACTIVITY PLAN COST

£510,300

Dorset County Museum November 2014 87

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context

10. Site Context Section 10 looks at the Museum’s context from its role within Dorset as a whole to its local site context.

This section also analyses the site’s history and how it has been built up over time to form the amalgamation of buildings that make up the current Museum site.

Furthermore, an analysis of the planning constraints and physical site constraints will inform the options investigated later in this document.

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Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.1 Dorchester Dorchester is a market town located within the Dorchester Conservation Area, and is Dorset’s county town. A historic market town, Dorchester lies on the banks of the River Frome, in the Frome Valley.

Dorchester is well served by transport links, direct London trains and good road infrastructure, as described in the following text:

Exeter - 1 hour 30 min drive

Southhampton - 1 hour 10 min drive

Bristol - 1 hour 50 min drive

London - 2 hour 50 min drive

1 2

N Map of Dorchester Historic Centre 1. Main Museum Site 2. All Saints Church off site storage.

South west England - locations of main attractions

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Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.2 Local context Dorset County Museum is central to the local council’s planned ‘Heritage Quarter’.

The Museum is bordered by High West Street to the South, a street which was largely rebuilt following a fire in Georgian times. To the North of the Museum is Colliton Street; a quieter, predominantly residential street. Close by is the main (pedestrianised) shopping street, Cornhill.

The Museum is adjacent to the Grade I listed St Peter’s Church, and nearby to the Holy Trinity Church.

The Western side of the site is home to a public carpark, and other adjoining properties include Quickfit mechanics, residential houses and a high street bank. The nearby former Dorchester prison has been decommissioned and is due to be redeveloped.

There is a local bus stop directly outside the Museum entrance on High West Street.

Dorchester Prison (Decommissioned)

Colliton Street

North Sq

uare

Car park

Dorset County Museum St Peter’s Church Holy Trinity Church

All Saints Church

quare

S Trinity

Cornhill

High West Street

N Site context plan 1:1250

Dorset County Museum November 2014 90

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.3 Land ownership The Museum owns all freehold of the buildings inside the site boundary line. Although the ground floor of 65 High West Street is owned by the Museum it is currently leased to Londis convenience store on a short term lease.

Colliton Street

North Sq

uare

The Museum does not have sufficient space on the site to house the archaeology collection and therefore since 1975 All Saints Church has been leased by the Museum for this purpose, which also includes the churchyard.

Dorset County Museum

St Peter’s Church

t st Stree

All Saints Church

Cornhill

High We

N Museum site plan 1:500 Museum Site Ownership Boundary Museum Owned - currently leased out on a short-term tenancy Museum Leased

Dorset County Museum November 2014 91

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.4 History of the site

High West Street Postcard - 1896

Pre 1700

Pre 1881

1881 - 1883

Mid 20th Century

1973

1881

The Museum erected permanent buildings on the main site and these remain the core of the Museum.

1939

The Museum bought 65/65a High West Street.

1971

An extension to the Museum included a multi- purpose gallery, school room, laboratory, stable block and archaeological gallery.

1975

The Museum started leasing All Saints Church, for storage.

1987

Acquisition of 4/5 Colliton Street / Craft Market

1992

Acquisition of St Peter’s Institute.

1997

The Dorset’s Writers’ Gallery constructed on the first floor.

2007

Opening of the Dorchester Gallery, Jurassic Coast Exhibition and the installation of a platform lift to the first floor.

2011

The classroom was refurbished to become the new Tea Room.

2014

Dorset County Museum November 2014 92

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.4 History of the site

1888 These historic plans show generous courtyards in the centre of the museum site.

1956 By 1956 the west courtyard (Bay Tree courtyard) had been reduced in size due to development of the surrounding buildings.

1973 The extension in 1971 reduced the size of the courtyard at the heart of the Museum site.

1988 Since 1971 there have been no major alterations to the footprint of the Museum or the overall configuration on the site.

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Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.5 Buildings and site features The site consists of a number of buildings: 1. Crickmay Building (front building) - Grade II listed Victorian building, currently used as an administration space and the library.

2. Williams’ Building (65 High West Street) - Grade II listed, leased to Londis Convenience store on the ground floor and basement.

9

3. Crickmay Building (main gallery) - Victorian gallery used to display parts of various collections.

8 10 12

4. Brawne Extension - built in the 1970s and is incurtilage listed.

7

5. Stable Building - Grade II listed and currently used to display elements of the social history collection.

11 15

6. Craft Market Building - used for storage, but is in a state of disrepair.

5 6

7. Storage Sheds - used for storage, but is in a state of disrepair.

14

8. John White’s Rectory - Grade I listed, and is currently unused.

13 4

9. 4-5 Colliton Street - Grade II listed, and is used for storage and administration.

3

10. St. Peter’s Institute - used as a storage space.

11. 4-5 Colliton Street Garden 12. John White’s Rectory Yard 2

1

Existing buildings 1:500 1

Crickmay Building (front building)

2

Williams’ Building (65 High West Street)

3

Crickmay Building (Victorian gallery)

4

Brawne Extension

5

Stable Building

6

Craft Market Building

7

Storage Sheds

8

John White’s Rectory

9

4-5 Colliton Street

10

St Peter’s Institute

13. Bay Tree Courtyard 14. Jurassic Courtyard

Dorset County Museum November 2014 94

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.6 Planning context The majority of the site is Grade II listed or in-curtilage listed.

The site is located within the Dorchester Conservation Area and within the setting of several listed buildings; including the Grade I listed Church of St Peter.

The proximate listed buildings are as follows: Grade I • St Peter’s Church

Ground Floor Listing status of the existing site

First Floor

Grade II • 4 and 5 Colliton Street • Messrs Thurmans Warehouse (aka John White’s Rectory) • 1-3 Colliton Street • 3-5 North Square • Monument to William Barnes • 65 and 65a, High West Street • 64, High West Street • Church of Holy Trinity • 63, High West Street • Church Cottage • Trinity Church Wall and Gates • 1, Grey School Passage • Trinity Cottages • Holy Trinity Infants School

Grade I listed

The Museum itself was Grade II listed on 8 May 1975.

Grade II listed

The Craft Market outbuildings themselves are not listed. However, they are within the curtilage of the listed buildings, and are therefore curtilage listed buildings themselves.

In-curtilage listed

Redevelopment must therefore consider and address any harm that would be caused to both the listed buildings and the curtliage listed outbuildings. The development must address Paragraph 132 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

As this document details, the public benefits of the building, along with the high quality design proposal, create a compelling case that addresses any harm caused to the existing assets on the site.

For further analysis of the planning restrictions, please refer to the Feasibility Study produced by Montagu Evans (dated Sept 2013).

Dorset County Museum November 2014 95

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.7 Site constraints There are significant constraints to development within the site, relating to the heritage significance of nearby buildings, their height, covenants with adjacent properties, access and archaeological considerations.

Restrictive covenants Development restricted to two stories Retained fire escape route Museum not permitted to build on this part of ground

10.7.1 Restrictive covenants A series of covenants have accumulated over the years as the site has expanded.

The 1994 study by Whitfield Partners summarised the easements across the site, and identified that, apart from the usual rights of light issues, the only known restrictions related to covenants in favour of No. 64 High Street West.

These effect the Bay Tree courtyard by preventing the Museum building on the site and restricting the number of floors that can be built.

There are also implicit covenants affecting the site, such as Rights of Light, fire escape routes and a tree protection order.

Detail

10.7.2 Below ground constraints The most significant constraint to development is a mains sewer which runs across the site and serves a significant proportion of Dorchester. Whilst in theory it is possible to re-route this, in practice this would be exorbitantly expensive. Moreover, its altered route will still be through the site, and it will therefore always be an obstacle to development.

Detail - The Bay Tree courtyard Rights of Light / overlooking

The initial desktop study has suggested that any proposed redevelopment should leave the sewer unaffected. Further investigative work will be required to determine the exact route of the pipe, as there are discrepancies between the existing sources.

In addition to the sewer there are tree roots to consider, in particular those of the 200 year old bay tree. A tree survey has been undertaken; please refer to Appendix U for further details. The proposals seek to retain the bay tree and avoid damaging its root ball by not encroaching any closer than the existing buildings, thus maintaining the existing area that the tree has.

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

Dorset County Museum November 2014 96

Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.8.1 Site Access The main entrance to the Museum is on High West Street. The public areas of the Museum are concentrated on the Ground and First floors of the buildings at the front of the site. The basement and the second floor of these front buildings and the back of the site generally are staff access only. Deliveries are made at the back of the Museum via Colliton Street.

10.8.2 Topography The land gradually slopes across the site from the west to east side, dropping a total of approximately one metre .

Basement

First Floor

Ground Floor

Second Floor

Public / private accommodation Non-Public Second Floor - 315 sqm

Public B

Controlled Access

First Floor - 690 sqm

First Floor - 520 sqm

Ground Floor - 770 sqm

Ground Floor - 760 sqm

Colliton Street

C

Basement - 235 sqm Site access A. Access from High West Street B. Access from Colliton Street Off site storage - 525 sqm

A High West Street

C. Access from Colliton Street

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Part Five: Our Project 10. Site Context 10.9 Appraisal 10.9.1 Archaeology The site is in the centre of the Roman Town of Dorchester and an excavation in the 1930s in the area of the Craft Market revealed evidence of the remains of a metalled Roman Road.

Basement

Accessibility

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

A full desktop study has been undertaken on the site

by Terrain Archaeology; please refer to Appendix T for the full report. The desktop study suggests that it is likely that archaeological remains will be found on the site, which could be disturbed by a new building development. A basement could increase the likelihood of disturbing artefacts. Taking this into consideration, a ‘watching brief’ will be employed to monitor and assess any findings. The Museum will use a suitably qualified and experienced professional archaeological company alongside its own programme of outreach and community learning. This will enable people to engage with the archaeological heritage of the development site.

In 1994, discussions with the Planning Authority concluded that the archaeological constraints on the site are very unlikely to pose a serious impediment to the redevelopment of the site, including the construction of a basement level.

Compromised access (stairs etc.)

Fully accessible

10.9.2 Public Realm The Museum’ s location in the centre of the town means there is no external public space attached to the Museum. In order to gain access to any part of the Museum visitors must pay an entry fee.

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Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit

11. Building Audit Section 11 studies each of the existing Museum buildings in detail, analysing their current condition and use.

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Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit Textiles and Costume

Fine and Decorative Art

Social History

Archaeology

Literature

Admin/ Management/ General storage/ Shop/ Cafe

11.1 Site Uses

The following section analyses all of the existing buildings in turn, to review their history, current use and physical status.

From a comparison between the amount of space currently used for display and the amount used for storage it is clear that a substantial amount of the Museum’s collection is inaccessible to the public and there is incredible potential for significantly increased public access.

Back of House Basement

Geology

Each building on the site has been surveyed and audited. Whilst the main purpose of the buildings on the site should be the display of the Museum’s collections, the predominant use on the site is in fact the storage of these collections.

Front of House

Natural History

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

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Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.1 Museum - Crickmay Building and Victorian Gallery The Main Gallery and front building was constructed in 1881-3. It has a partial basement at the front and 3 storeys above ground. The library occupies the front room on the ground floor and is lined in bookshelves from floor to ceiling. The front room on the first floor displays the Geology Collection, and the second floor above is a back of house space for the literature teams.

The main Victorian Gallery is a double height hall with ornate cast iron columns supporting a first floor gallery and a clerestory roof. The gallery has free standing glass cabinets each giving a glimpse into the various collections in the Museum. Paintings and sculptures from the fine art collection are exhibited on the walls.

The gallery is also used for lectures, concerts and theatrical performances.

Total floor area: ~640sq m.

Crickmay Building in the foreground with 65 West High Street behind.

View inside the Victorian Gallery.

Key plan

Basement

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

Dorset County Museum November 2014 101

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.2 Williams’ Building (65 High Street West) The Williams’ Building (65 High Street West) is a pair of historic town houses, possibly from the 17th century, which have been comprehensively altered and currently has a retail unit in the ground floor and basement. Much of the existing internal structure has been removed from the ground floor storey requiring the insertion of beams and other transfer structure at higher levels. Deflections and settlements in the upper superstructure are probably as a result of the alteration works rather than inherent defects but this will need to be confirmed by further invasive investigation.

The first floor is used as the Writer’s Gallery. The second floor is occupied by the administrative staff of the Museum and has the main meeting room for the Museum. The administration space is comprised of multiple small rooms connected by narrow corridors and these are not accessible by lift and therefore this poses a problem for elderly volunteers.

Total floor area: ~660sq m.

65 High Street West street frontage

The Writer’s Gallery

Key plan

Basement

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

Dorset County Museum November 2014 102

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.3 Brawne Extension The Brawne Extension was constructed around 1971.

It has a reinforced concrete frame sitting on pad foundations with ground beams to allow columns to be located directly against the perimeter walls. The first floor is a thick coffered concrete slab. The roof is lightweight with wood wool panels supported on lightweight steel trusses.

The Brawne Extension houses the temporary exhibition and learning space on the ground floor, and the archaeology gallery on the first floor.

It has been altered extensively since its completion, which has compromised much of its value as an exhibition space. Originally built as an open plan space full of natural light, it is now an enclosed space with low levels of light.

Total floor area: ~566sq m.

Learning space in the Brawne Extension.

Temporary exhibition gallery in the Brawne Extension.

Asphalt roof of the Brawne Extension

Ground floor

First floor

Key plan

Dorset County Museum November 2014 103

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.4 Stable Building To the rear of the Brawne Extension is a historic twostorey stable block, with stone walls and a timber upper floor and roof. The building has been significantly modified since its construction, with new openings added; in particular the large aperture into the Brawne Extension. Whilst there has been a substantial amount of historic fabric lost, the original layout is easily read within the space.

The ground floor of the stable is currently used primarily to display the Museum’s Social History collection, in what is called the Rural Dorset gallery. At first floor level within the roof void, the Social History collections are densely stored, which makes accessing and monitoring the collection difficult.

The Stable Building’s ground floor level is higher than the rest of the ground floor of the Museum, and is therefore accessed via six steps. This significantly reduces the accessibility of the space; it is impossible for wheelchair users to visit and very difficult for those with mobility problems or prams.

Total floor area: ~208sq m.

Courtyard and stable building.

Social History collection on display in the stable building.

Social History collection on display in the stable building.

Basement

Ground floor

First floor

Key plan

Dorset County Museum November 2014 104

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.5 Craft Market The Craft Market is a collection of light industrial buildings on a large site adjacent to the public areas of the Museum. Whilst potentially accessible via a number of points from the main Museum, the buildings are not suitable for adaptation as Museum spaces in their present form as the building itself has fundamental structural problems.

The Craft Market is a double height workshop with a partial mezzanine floor. The walls are predominantly masonry with steel and timber floors and steel roof trusses. This building is in poor condition and has suffered considerably from leaks and degradation due to damp. The southern and western elevations of this building form two sides of a walled garden. The western edge of this garden has a stone Party wall which is leaning severely into the site (currently stabilised with buttresses). Any redevelopment of this part of the site will need to address the defects in this Party wall.

The Craft Market cannot currently be accessed from the public parts of the Museum, instead it is entered from John White’s Yard or the Bay tree courtyard.

Total floor area: ~490sq m.

Ground floor interior.

Ground floor interior.

First floor of the Craft Market currently used for storage.

Ground floor

First floor

Key plan

Dorset County Museum November 2014 105

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.6 John White’s Rectory Reputed to be the home of the man who founded Dorchester, Massachusetts, this building is used at present for the storage of large objects. It is unfit for purpose in its current state, with no cooling or heating, little protection from external elements and inadequate security.

John White’s Rectory is Grade II listed but only the northern stone elevation and chimney stack and parts of the timber roof are original. The building was altered in the 1930’s with the insertion of a concrete mezzanine floor.

Total floor area: ~106sq m.

View east in the yard.

Exterior of the John White’s Rectory from Colliton street.

View south to the existing craft market.

Basement - 40 sqm

Ground Floor - 44 sqm

First Floor - 20 sqm

Key plan

Dorset County Museum November 2014 106

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.7 4-5 Colliton Street This building is a pair of cottages converted for Museum storage purposes. It houses the fine art and decorative art collection, literary, costume and textiles collection, herbarium and natural history collection.

4-5 Colliton Street has two storeys plus a loft conversion and a partial basement. The southern extension, containing the stair well and storerooms, is constructed from brick and is not original, whereas the main building is in stone with timber floors supported on downstand beams.

As a museum store its small rooms, narrow corridors and steep, twisting staircase make it entirely unfit for purpose. There are few environmental controls and humidity is a constant issue. The stores are at present full and cannot realistically be expected to take any further growth of the collection.

Total floor area: ~285sq m.

Link between John White’s Rectory and 4-5 Colliton Street.

External view from Colliton Street.

Key plan

Basement - 27 sqm

Ground Floor - 95 sqm

First Floor - 95 sqm

Second Floor - 68 sqm

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Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.8 St. Peter’s Institute

St Peter’s Institute is a two storey late 19th century school house with brick and stone façades, timber floors and a basement. It appears to have originally been built as a double storey hall with a mezzanine floor inserted at a later date. It is currently used for storage of props and display furniture, plinths etc, but the Museum considers that a large proportion of these items currently stored could be disposed of in due course.

Total floor area: ~363sq m.

First Floor internal view.

First Floor internal view.

Staircase from the ground floor.

Basement - 120 sqm

Ground Floor - 128 sqm

First Floor - 128 sqm

Key plan

Dorset County Museum November 2014 108

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.2.9 Comparison between Front of House and Back of House for each collection Geology

Social History

Archaeology

Literature

Costume and Textiles

Back of House

Front of House

Natural History

Office space (back of house)

Storage (back of house)

All Saints Church 525 sqm

Dorset County Museum November 2014 109

Part Five: Our Project 11. Building Audit 11.3.1 Environmental Analysis

Inadequate for current use and risk to collection

Many of the Museum buildings are inadequate for their current use and do not meet museum environmental condition standards.

The majority of the Museum lacks temperature control, and none of the buildings have mechanical cooling or humidity control. This causes particular concerns when large groups visit the Museum.

The lack of humidity control results in a high level of both seasonal and daily humidity variance, which poses a threat to many of the Museum’s artefacts.

Furthermore, many sensitive works are subject to direct sunlight.

Basement

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

11.3.2 Structural Analysis

Structurally at risk

Not only are many of the buildings environmentally damaging to the collections, but certain parts of the Museum are structurally at risk, such as the Craft Market.

This collection of buildings have fundamental structural problems, and are at risk of collapse.

The Craft Market buildings are at the end of their service life, primarily due to a poor standard of initial construction. This degradation process has been compounded and accelerated by a lack of maintenance and subsequent leaks. This poses a significant threat to both museum artefacts and members of staff and the public, and the buildings are therefore not fit for purpose.

Even if there was a strong desire to, it would be inefficient and impractical to attempt to repair and refurbish the buildings to a suitable condition for museum use.

Basement

Ground Floor

First Floor

Second Floor

Dorset County Museum November 2014 110

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis

12. Options Analysis Our options analysis shows the process we went through in considering the most appropriate design solution to respond to our identified needs and desired outcomes for heritage, people, communities and for our organisational and business resilience. This section restates the range of desired outcomes which formed our design brief, summarises the five main design options considered, including doing nothing, and then shows the balanced scorecard approach that we used to arrive at our preferred option.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 111

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis 12.1 Context: the need for change

Collections Management: Heritage is better managed

Dorset County Museum has identified a number of key issues that it must address in order for it to become a sustainable, fit-for-purpose organisation.

•

Section 6 articulated the desired outcomes identified for the Museum, its collections and its users and formed the brief for the Museum’s ambitions for the future.

The outcomes reflected the need for change across the following areas, and are detailed below for ease of reference: Heritage • Collections Management • Conservation • Access, display and interpretation People • Learning • Volunteering • Training • Accessibility Communities • Audience numbers • Audience segments • Audience awareness Business and Resilience • Staff Capacity • Collections and buildings maintenance • Streamlining the estate • Developing the business model

•

•

The Museum will develop the buildings, staff and volunteer capacity to carry out the basic aspects of collections management (cataloging and documentation to SPECTRUM standards, condition reporting, measurement and photography), which are currently hampered by a restricted space and associated lack of equipment.

The Museum will have the necessary laboratory space for conservation and research in relation to its geology and archaeology collections and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums, research professionals and educational institutions in Dorset.

The Museum’s visitors will be directly engaged with and informed about museum collections management practices as the new building layout for the Museum will make its behind the scenes work more visible and give audiences the opportunity to experience collections care, documentation and conservation at first hand.

Conservation: Heritage is in better condition •

All of the Museum’s heritage collections will be housed in a building that provides appropriate conservation conditions, ensuring they are preserved for the benefit of future generations.

•

All the collections will be consolidated onto one site allowing for more interaction across collections and ensuring better conditions for volunteering.

•

There will be additional capacity to collected strategically important material from Dorset. This will include both archaeology from the ancient ceremonial landscape of the South Dorset Ridgeway and geology from the coastline of the UNESCO Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, and we will be able to share this storage capacity with other accredited museums in Dorset.

•

The 16th century John White’s Rectory will be restored, bringing a significant listed-buliding and heritage asset back into the public domain.

•

The Museum will have fit-for-purpose infrastructure for conservation, research and exhibition preparation – including the specific provision to actively work on the conservation of our archaeology, geology, costume and art collections - and be able to share these facilities with other accredited museums in Dorset.

Access, display and interpretation: Heritage will better interpreted and explained •

The stories and related themes across the Museum’s collections will be revealed so that visitors experience the collection as constellations within an overarching narrative rather than as a series of thematic cul-de-sacs. This will present the story in a way that spans over 180 million years and helps us understand some of the most important fundamental principles of both natural and human history.

•

New permanent display spaces for the presentation and interpretation of our natural history, art and textiles collections will be incorporated into the design of Museum’s building, making these collections fully accessible for the first time

•

The restoration of John White’s Rectory will provide a space in which the international links between Dorset and USA can be explored and made accessible.

•

The Museum will have the basic facilities required for the ongoing digitisation of its collections.

•

Access to the collections not on display will be enabled through digitised objects and galleries, as well as collections stored in areas with ‘open’ visitor access and the opportunity to directly handle and engage with objects or museum collections management activities.

•

The depth of the collection and the work carried out by volunteers will be revealed through the public being able to see collections volunteers at work.

•

•

Objects in the collections will be accessible to be viewed in dedicated research spaces for those with research or specialist interests.

More of the available space in the Museum will be accessible to the public for a range of activities, from displays and exhibitions to learning and community use.

Learning: People will have learnt about heritage •

•

•

•

The museum will have a dedicated, purposedesigned learning space / community learning centre, which can accommodate a full range of wet and dry activities for a full school class, as well as having an easily accessible handling collection.

The project will grow the Museum’s staff capacity to develop and manage an enhanced formal learning programme, with strong links with the new national curriculum across all four key stages, delivered by qualified volunteers. This will build upon our existing successes, allow the development of new sessions related to the strength of our collection in pre-historic archaeology, and enable the creation of ‘hands on’ archaeology sessions in the Museum’s new courtyard spaces.

The project will provide increased physical space, facilities and staff capacity to deliver more sessions for informal learning groups. We will improve the learning facilities we have available for use by community groups such as the Dorchester Association. We will work in partnership with Dorset Mencap to expand the capacity of our ‘Museum Makers’ group for adults with learning disabilities (which is currently oversubscribed).

This extra capacity will also enable us to use the knowledge gained from this successful initiative to create new links with the Arts in Hospital team at Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Dorset Dementia Action Alliance that will result in new informal learning projects that use our collections to improve health and social well-being in Dorset.

There will be an enhanced and more sustained family provision, offering more regular activities for more diverse groups and hard to reach audiences.

We will grow our ‘Make and Do’ family activities for the 7-13 age group to encompass a wider range of collections interests, re-establish previously trailed dedicated groups for the Under 7s (Dino Club) and Under 5s (Rainbow Club), and expand the capacity of our branch of the CBA’s Young Archaeologists Club (for which there is currently a waiting list).

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Volunteering: People will have volunteered time and developed skills •

•

•

The Museum will have the physical environment and facilities that will enable curatorial teams to work more effectively on collections management and work together across collections in a more integrated way, developing the common ground between the different collections.

The project will create more and better working environments for volunteers, enabling the Museum to increase its volunteer capacity and thus volunteer opportunities, particularly in the curatorial departments.

Develop a volunteer cohort that is reflective of a broader local demographic.

•

The project will enhance perceptions of Dorset, its natural history, culture, knowledge and discovery, through the stories told in the Museum.

•

The Museum will develop greater audience engagement through the provision of facilities for a high-quality focused temporary exhibition programme. This will also enable the Museum to more easily borrow objects or touring exhibitions from the national collections, expanding access to these collections for people in Dorset and enhancing the Museum’s appeal to repeat visitors.

•

•

The improved physical environment of the museum, greater revenue income and staff capacity will result in increased opportunities for providing in-house training of staff and volunteers in conservation, collections management, digitisation, web and social media, marketing, hospitality and visitor services.

There will be a system of apprentices embedded into the staff structure of the Museum, working in collections management, administration and hospitality functions.

The Museum will establish ongoing work placements and research opportunities for students in Higher Education at both Bournemouth University and University of Exeter.

Accessibility •

•

The Museum building will be fully accessible for those with physical disabilities for the first time The Museum’s interpretation will be entirely overhauled to ensure it is both physically and intellectually accessible and provision is made for a variety of learning styles and approaches.

Engagement: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage •

•

Additional staff capacity sustained in order to deliver all of the above outcomes – particularly around learning and volunteer management and marketing.

Collections and Building Maintenance: Your organisation will be more resilient, negative environmental impacts will be reduced •

The Museum will develop a more diverse and sustainable range of income streams to support the ongoing care and maintenance of its collections and buildings.

•

The project will enable a greater understanding locally about what the Museum does, what it is and how people can become involved.

•

The physical changes to the front of the Museum will improve its visibility and street presence, creating a friendlier, more welcoming and more accessible environment for visitors

•

The Museum will have an enhanced digital presence and accessibility to its collections and the capacity to continue to maintain and develop this in the future.

•

•

The project will help strengthen existing and create new partnerships that further develop the Museum as a hub and resource for other organisations.

Developing the business model: Your organisation will be more resilient

•

We will have reviewed and expanded our membership scheme, increasing the number of people having an in-depth and regular engagement with the Museum.

Training and Apprenticeships: People will have developed skills •

Staff Capacity, Your organisation will be more resilient

Audience Development: More people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage •

Increase visitors to the Museum from 40,000 to at least 80,000 per annum.

•

Audience development will be focused around the improved temporary exhibition offer and informal learning programme

•

More people who are visitors to the area will be attracted to the Museum as a fundamental part of Dorset’s attraction to the cultural tourist. More people from hard-to-reach or non-traditional audiences will engage with the Museum.

•

•

•

•

•

The Museum building will be more environmentally sustainable, with facilities designed from the outset to be energy efficient, within a rationalised and consolidated estate that is substantially more cost efficient to operate.

The Museum will be designed for growth, enabling its heritage collections to continue to be developed in the future.

The transformational impact of the project will create an organisation that can self-sustain the increased levels of activity that the new Museum will undertake.

Increased income generation opportunities from admissions, catering, retail and events will fundamentally uplift revenue levels A systematic approach to revenue fundraising, including relevant staff capacity, will be developed and embedded into the organisation The Museum will have an increased economic impact. New jobs will be created in the permanent Museum staff and through the development, design and construction process. In the longterm, as a result of significantly more visitors to the Museum, the local economy will be boosted through increased spending and economic activity in Dorset by cultural tourists.

Greater access, new displays and improved interpretation will help more of the audience to be aware of the stories told by the objects and make the layers of meaning in an object more explicit.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 113

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis 12.2 Options analysis

12.3 Scoring criteria

A detailed assessment of the existing estate has been undertaken, and the various options for development considered in detail. This has included an analysis of where existing floor space could be repurposed and used more efficiently, and where additional floor space could potentially be developed. Details of this are explained later in the document.

A weighted and scored option appraisal was undertaken to provide assurance that the proposed preferred option represents the optimal solution and that a systematic methodology has been adopted to evaluate the merits of different options. The criteria and weightings by which each option has been assessed, and the weighted scorecard is detailed below:

An initial feasibility study by Montagu Evans in 2013 considered a range of options from doing nothing to a complete overhaul of the Museum site.

This study also considered 5 different strategies to raise funds through developing the site alongside other funding streams.

Criteria

Description

Weighting

Score range

Heritage Outcomes

Extent to which the proposed scheme provides DCM with the capability and facilities to adequately store, conserve, display and interpret its collections

25%

1-10 1 = inadequate 10 = ideal

People and Community Outcomes

Extent to which the option improves public access to DCM’s collections, through improved facilities for teaching, volunteering and research.

25%

1-10 1 = inadequate 10 = ideal

Increased Business Resilience

Ability to enable DCM to increase programme and non-programme income streams – including admissions, retail and catering, corporate hire.

30%

1-10 1 = inadequate 10 = ideal

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

The extent to which the proposed scheme is affordable, low-risk to DCM and funders and stakeholders, and deliverable.

20%

1-10 1 = substantial capital outlay 10 = lowest possible cost

The options considered are as follows: Option 1­­: Do nothing.

Option 2: Sell the Craft Market site and develop new off-site facilities away from the town centre.

Option 3: Redevelop part of the site with ‘low density’.

Option 4: Redevelop part of the site ‘intensively’.

Option 5: Redevelop the entire museum site.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 114

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 1­­: Do nothing.

Summary: This option does not propose any alterations to the existing Museum.

Retain all existing buildings in current state

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Resilience

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

Pros:

Pros:

Cons: • All current collection management problems persist, including environmental conditions and inadequate storage.

• Collections remain at risk from damage.

• Historic buildings remains at risk of deterioration.

• Galleries do not conform to Government Indemnity Standard.

• Strategic aims for gallery renewal and increasing breadth and amount of collection display are unfulfilled.

Cons: • All current problems persist.

• No dedicated learning/community space, lack of resources to provide additional learning capacity.

• Lack of space for volunteers to undertake basic collections research.

• Lack of space for researcher and visitor access to the collection and archives.

• Visitor experience affected by inadequate layered interpretation and ad hoc nature of some collections display.

• Buildings are not fully accessible.

• Does not increase visibility of the Museum.

• Does not deliver increased revenue income necessary to enhance marketing and audience development activity.

• Does not provide improvements in temporary exhibition programme to attract increased visitor numbers.

Pros: • No closure period and cash flow risk • Retain guaranteed income from Londis supermarket

Pros: • No direct capital costs.

• No immediate planning risk.

• No risk to heritage buildings from unforeseen construction impact.

Score: 1

Score: 1

Option 1 Refurbish Retain Sell Build

Cons: • All current problems persist.

• Does not offer any scope for revenue growth from catering, retail or admissions in order to develop heritage, learning and staff capacity.

• Significant capital costs will be incurred to the Craft Market and the Brawn Extension, including some imminent essential remedial work, such as reroofing the Brawn building.

• Related planning risk around demolition without a proposed replacement.

• Exposes museum to ongoing rises in ongoing maintenance and running costs.

Score: 1

Cons: • Significant maintenance costs in the near future (see resilience column).

Estimated cost: ~ Nil

Score: 8 Total weighted score: 2.4

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 2: Sell the Craft Market site and St Peter’s Institute and develop new off-site facilities away from the town centre.

Summary: This option entails the sale of the Craft Market site and St Peter’s Institute, to enable the purchase of new off-site storage facilities. The Museum would use its position to run a public case argument to secure favourable planning permission for residential uses on the extension site. 4 & 5 Collition Street and John White’s Rectory are converted to provide three residential dwellings (2 x 2-bed and 1 x 1-bed).

4 & 5 Colliton St and John White’s Rectory converted to residential

Sell Craft Market site and buildings

Refurbish

Retain Crickmay in current state

Option 2 Refurbish Retain Sell

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Resilience

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

Pros: • Improvement of heritage storage conditions by delivery of off-site facility.

• Allows for collections management and conservation work to be undertaken.

• Improvement to the breadth of collections on display through increased Gallery space.

• Addresses risk of deterioration of historic buildings.

Pros: • Delivers dedicated learning space and supports additional learning capacity.

• Improves volunteer working conditions and supports additional volunteer capacity.

• Delivers improvement to galleries and interpretation.

Pros: • Café and shop can be relocated/expanded and revenue streams developed.

• Admissions targets can be increased as Museum offer to visitors will be enhanced will be a better offer.

Pros: • Less expensive capital costs than other options (aside from Option 1).

Cons: • Does not deliver ambition for Museum to reveal all of its collections; Lack of public awareness of the wider collection, its value and worth.

• Risks and costs around transporting heritage items between sites.

• DCM loses significant heritage asset in John White’s Rectory.

Build

Score: 5

Cons: • Doesn’t deliver connections between collections, learning and volunteering, due to off-site archives.

• Collections volunteers based offsite, a major drawback with impact on volunteer recruitment, retention and visitor experience.

• Collections volunteer interaction with visitors vastly reduced.

• At odds with the Museum’s position as a cornerstone of the Dorchester community.

• Split locations problematic for research and other access.

Score: 5

Cons: • More inefficient from a management perspective, due to split site.

• Lack of integration between management and volunteers.

• Risks and costs around transporting heritage.

• Extra maintenance and utilities costs associated with having two separate sites.

• Lose secondary access for exhibition installs and dedicated learning access.

• Lose guaranteed income from Londis supermarket.

Score: 6

Cons: • Potential planning risk around new site.

• Planning risk around change of use of Craft Market around rights of light etc.

• Potential capital receipt from sale of buildings, but offset by the need to deliver new offsite facility.

• Does not fulfil ambition to streamline the estate.

Estimated cost: ~ £3.1m

(building costs)

Score: 5 Total weighted score: 5.3

Dorset County Museum November 2014 116

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 3: Redevelop part of the site with ‘low density’.

Refurbish

Summary: This option would see the Craft Market buildings demolished and a replacement single storey structure built to reinstate the lost storage. 4 & 5 Collition Street and John White’s Rectory would be refurbished and would continue to provide storage capacity and back of house functions. All Saint’s Church would need to be retained for storage use.

Refurbish Refurbish

Demolish Craft Market buildings and build replacement storage

Refurbish

Retain in current state

Option 3

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Resilience

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

Pros • Improvement of heritage storage conditions.

• Allows for collections management and conservation work to be undertaken.

• Addresses risk of deterioration of historic buildings.

Pros: • Delivers dedicated learning space.

• Improves volunteer working conditions.

• Allows for greater number and higher quality of volunteer opportunities.

Pros: • Café and shop can be relocated/expanded and revenue streams developed.

Pros: • Marginally less expensive than Option 4 and significantly less expensive than Option 5.

• Replacing existing building of low heritage value reduces planning risk.

Cons: • Should all the storage and back of house capacity be delivered, no additional gallery space would be possible.

• Does not deliver ambition for Museum to reveal all of its collections; Lack of public understanding and interaction with the wider collection.

• Does not deliver all floor area required for archive and gallery space.

Cons: • Does not deliver ambition for Museum to reveal all of its collections; Lack of public awareness of the wider collection, its value and worth.

• Doesn’t deliver increased visitor experience as additional collections not on display.

Refurbish

Cons • Won’t offer level the same level of transformation from a visitor perspective, therefore unable to deliver a significant increase in admissions income.

• Increased income streams will not allow for ambitions around additional staff capacity and collections and exhibitions investment to be realised.

• Lose of income from Londis supermarket.

• Doesn’t make best use of land. Ties up land, reducing opportunity for future development.

Cons: • Proposal means that future additions to deliver ambitions on gallery space would be expensive and involve demolition and/or additional land.

• Short term solution that only deals with the craft market.

• No capital receipts from Colliton Street to support match funding.

Estimated cost: ~ £4.6m

(building costs)

Retain Sell Build

Score: 8

Score: 6

Score: 6

Score: 4 Total weighted score: 6.1

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 4: Redevelop part of the site ‘intensively’.

Converted to residential and sold

Summary: This option would see the Craft Market buildings demolished and a replacement part one / part two storey structure with basement provided. 4 & 5 Colliton Street would be converted to provide residential accommodation which the Museum could sell. John White’s Rectory would be refurbished to form part of the Museum. Facility would be provided across three floor levels (basement, ground and first) responding to heritage sensitivities.

Refurbish Refurbish

Demolish Craft Market buildings and replace with three storey facility with galleries, archive and back of house

Refurbish

Retain in current state

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Resilience

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

Pros • Improvement of heritage storage conditions.

• Allows for collections management and conservation work to be undertaken.

• Addresses risk of deterioration of historic buildings.

• Delivers required additional Gallery space.

• Delivers ambition for Museum to reveal all of its collections enhancing public understanding and interaction with the wider collection.

Pros: • Delivers dedicated learning space and supports additional learning capacity.

• Improves volunteer working conditions and supports additional volunteer capacity.

• Allows for greater number and higher quality of volunteer opportunities.

• Delivers enhanced visitor experience with improved interpretation, more collections on display, and greater range of stories drawing collections together.

Pros: • Café and shop can be relocated/expanded and revenue streams developed.

• Transforms visitor experience and therefore supports increase in admissions revenue.

• Additional revenue to support increased capacity in learning, exhibitions and marketing.

• Provides additional learning and temporary exhibition space to support activities that will attract fundraising.

Pros: • Delivers the required brief and less expensive than Option 5.

• Only marginally more costly than Option 3 while delivering the full range of desired outcomes.

• Allows for receipts from Colliton street sale.

Cons: • Lose of income from Londis supermarket.

(building costs)

Cons:

Score: 9

Score: 8

Score: 4

Cons:

Cons: • Planning and archaeology risks associated with excavation.

Estimated cost: ~ £8.3m

Option 4 Refurbish Retain Sell Build

Score: 9

Total weighted score: 7.7

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 5: Redevelop the entire museum site.

Summary: This option entails clearing the entire development site except the façades of 4 & 5 Colliton Street and John White’s Rectory. A new building would then be constructed over three levels (basement, ground and first floor) New accommodation would be provided behind the façades of 4 & 5 Colliton Street and John White’s Rectory would be refurbished and retained for Museum use.

Refurbish Refurbish Demolish entire Craft Market buildings, and 4&5 Colliton St and John White’s Rectory. Replace with three storey facility with galleries, archive and back of house

Refurbish

Retain in current state

Option 5 Refurbish

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Resilience

Cost, Risk and Deliverability

Pros • Improvement of heritage storage conditions.

• Allows for collections management and conservation work to be undertaken.

• Addresses risk of deterioration of historic buildings.

• Delivers required additional Gallery space.

• Deliver ambition for Museum to reveal all of its collections enhancing public understanding and interaction with the wider collection.

• More space for collections growth (beyond that projected by DCM. • Over achieves the brief for gallery space, allowing for more collections to be displayed.

Pros: • Delivers dedicated learning space and supports additional learning capacity.

• Improves volunteer working conditions and supports additional volunteer capacity.

• Allows for greater number and higher quality of volunteer opportunities.

• Delivers enhanced visitor experience with improved interpretation, more collections on display, and greater range of stories drawing collections together.

Pros • Café and shop can be relocated/expanded and revenue streams developed.

• Transforms visitor experience and therefore supports increase in admissions revenue.

• Additional revenue to support increased capacity in learning, exhibitions and marketing.

• Provides additional learning and temporary exhibition space to support activities that will attract fundraising.

Pros:

Cons: • Greater disruption to local area during construction.

Retain Sell

Cons:

Build

Score: 10

Score: 10

Cons: • No receipts from sale of Colliton Street.

• Higher planning risk.

• Higher capital cost than all other options.

• Greater risk relating to archeology and services due to more widespread excavation.

• Greater disruption to local area during construction.

Estimated cost: ~ £14m (building costs)

Cons: • Increased maintenance costs compared to Option 4 due to larger floor space, but no associated increase income (in comparison to Option 4).

• Lose of income from Londis supermarket.

• Greater disruption to the business Score: 6

Score: 1 Total weighted score: 7.0

Dorset County Museum November 2014 119

Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis 12.6 Conclusion: Preferred option

12.5 Scoring results

Weighting

Heritage Outcomes

People and Community Outcomes

Increased Business Resilience

Cost, Risk, Deliverability

25%

25%

30%

20%

Total Weighted Score

(out of 10)

Option 1 Weighted score

1 0.25

1 0.25

1 0.3

8 1.6

2.4

Option 2 Weighted score

5 1.25

5 1.25

6 1.8

5 1.0

5.3

Option 3 Weighted score

8 2.0

6 1.5

6 1.8

4 0.8

6.1

Option 4 Weighted score

9 2.25

9 2.25

8 2.4

4 0.8

7.7

Option 5 Weighted score

10 2.5

10 2.5

6 1.8

1 0.2

7.0

Option 4 emerges from this options analysis as the preferred option.

In summary, the reasons for adopting the ‘redevelop part of the site intensively’ option as the preferred option are that it will successfully deliver the following outcomes:

12.7 Option variants The following pages detail more in depth variations of the preferred option 4. The variations focus on the existing Brawne Extension and its treatment given its central location on the site.

Heritage Option 4 provides the desired improvements in collections management and conservation. It addresses the critical issues of collections that are at risk and the inability of the Museum to develop and grow the collection due to lack of space and facilities.

People and Communities Option 4 addresses the critical weaknesses the Museum faces by providing the facilities and business model to develop and sustain activities for learning and community participation. It also delivers much needed improvements to volunteer working conditions and supports additional volunteer capacity, allowing for a greater number and higher quality of volunteer opportunities. It delivers an enhanced visitor experience with improved interpretation, more collections on display and a greater range of stories drawing collections together.

Sustainability This option allows the Museum to develop its income across a range of areas in order to support the ongoing resilience of an expanded organisation. A relocated cafĂŠ and shop will result in greater earned income and an ability to develop a catered events business, while an increased visitor offer, including an enhanced temporary exhibition programme, will result in higher visitor numbers and increased admissions revenue.

An improved exhibitions and learning programme will provide more opportunities for fundraising. All of these activities will support greater staff and resource capacity to maintain the heritage, people and communities outcomes in the long term.

Value for Money Option 4 is the less expensive of the two options that deliver the full range of desired outcomes. The least expensive options for development offer some (though not significant) capital savings but these are at the expense of major weaknesses, either in terms of heritage and volunteering outcomes or business resilience. As a result in terms of cost:benefit, Option 4 represents the best value for money.

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 4 - Variant A

Refurbishment

12.7.1 Summary The first variant of option 4 retains the Brawne Extension and working with the existing structure. This would require a new floor to be built above the existing structure. This version would enhance the connections between the Brawne Extension and the rest of the Museum, improving circulation and organisation. This area is also a logical place for new circulation between four floors, as it is now central to the visitor experience rather than the Western extremity. This requires a fundamental change to the purpose of the architecture, from a destination to a circulation space.

New build Demolition

Second Floor

First Floor

Ground Floor

Basement / Mezzanine

Option 4 - Variant A : Brawne Extension retained

Basement

12.7.2 Advantages The retention of the 1970s structure has a number of advantages: • Comparably reduced cost.

• More options for phasing and partial opening during construction.

• Retaining a piece of the ‘story’ of the Museum and its incremental development.

• Reduced risk, in some areas, of affecting existing services and unknown hazards.

• Less site disruption due to less construction work.

12.7.3 Challenges This version also poses a number of challenges: • Altering the function of an existing building will cause inevitable compromises and difficulties.

• Limitations of structural positions and floor to ceiling heights.

• Loading limitations on the second floor will limit its uses and future flexibility. This will significantly compromise the layout of the developed Museum.

• Significant modifications will be required to mechanical and electrical installations.

• The heavyweight first floor slab will be difficult to modify and poses various problems.

• Existing heavyweight structural columns must be retained, although they are not in ideal locations.

• Assumptions regarding the existing structure hold an inherent risk, which may result in substantial design changes.

• The poor thermal performance of the existing fabric would require extensive upgrading.

• Asbestos cladding poses health risks.

12.7.4 Conclusion Whilst this version would provide many of the desired outcomes such as increased circulation, the risks and costs inherent in altering the Brawne Extension, along with spatial compromises and restricted loadings, would prove detrimental to the quality of the new Museum.

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Part Five: Our Project 12. Options Analysis Option 4 - Variant B New build

12.7.1 Summary The second option to deal with the central hub is to demolish the Brawne Extension and re-build on this site, reusing the foundations. This option would only demolish the building above ground floor.

Demolition

A further option was considered which involved building a basement below the Brawne Extension. This option was discounted after considering the existing below ground sewers which pass beneath this part of the site.

Second Floor

First Floor

Ground Floor

Basement / Mezzanine

Option 4 - Variant B : Brawne Extension demolished

12.7.2 Advantages Demolishing the Brawne Extension has the following advantages: • Purpose designed and built spaces that fulfil the Museum’s requirements.

• Increased freedom to design the structure and circulation to maximise efficiency and usability.

• Structure can be designed to take the required loadings, allowing the layout to be designed in the most efficient organisation.

• Services can be fully integrated within the building, without the compromises.

• Openings in floor slabs can be positioned in their optimum location.

• High levels of thermal insulation, acoustic insulation and air-tightness can be achieved.

• Floor levels can be set at the preferred levels, to best suit the building’s function.

• Increased amount of construction will increase efficiencies in cost.

• Increased certainty over the quality of the construction and lifespan.

12.7.3 Challenges The challenges associated with this option are as follows: • Slightly increased cost.

• Limitations inherent in reusing the existing foundations.

• Increased disruption to the Museum, surrounding buildings and people.

• Risk of damage to adjacent buildings during demolition.

12.7.4 Conclusion On balance, this version comes forward as the preferred version of option 4, as it provides all of the desired outcomes and layout without the risks associated with retaining the Brawne Extension.

Basement

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Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option

13. Preferred Option : Detailed architectural RIBA Stage B report This section presents our preferred architectural option in greater detail and is Carmody Groarke’s Stage B architectural report for the proposed Collections Discovery Centre.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 123

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.1 Overview The design necessarily considers its impact on the heritage assets and the project team have carried out detailed analysis to minimise any potential harm it may cause within the Dorchester’s historic townscape.

The proposals aim to make a positive contribution to the appearance, character, quality and local distinctiveness of the historic environment.

The proposals strive to have a transformative impact on heritage, people and communities. The proposals greatly improve the facilities for all facets of the Museum’s offer, from dedicated research spaces to interactive archives.

The proposals aim to have a long term impact on the success of the Museum, and this has been ensured through the development of a detailed masterplan and long term vision. The resilience of the Museum’s business plan has also been closely considered, to ensure that the proposals are commercially strong.

The current state of many of the Museum’s existing buildings requires immediate action, and these proposals will offer the necessary improvements in the most efficient and effective way.

The Museum believes strongly that community involvement is vital to the success of the project, and the project team have carried out consultations with all stakeholders at decisive stages in the development.

3D model of proposed Museum building

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Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option

Textiles and Costume

Fine and Decorative Art

Social History

Archaeology

Geology

Literature

Library researchers

Learning

Admin/ Volunteers / General Store

Temporary Gallery

Cafe/ Kitchen and shop

Back of House

Publicly Viewable

Front of House

Natural History

Diagram showing the proposed distribution of Museum functions

Dorset County Museum November 2014 125

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.2 Town 13.2.1 Grain The surrounding context of the site is generally characterised by its relatively small plot sizes, which creates a tight and dense townscape grain. The vernacular buildings have pitched roofs, which are aligned parallel to the street on their street frontage and perpendicularly going deeper into the block.

View north east towards natural landscape

13.2.2 Roofscape This density of the urban grain, combined with the various periods of construction evident in the area, give rise to a very varied and fascinating roof-scape.

The view overlooking the roofs has a wonderful sense of calm and privilege. A further intriguing quality are the instances where views through the gaps in roofs provide views of the countryside beyond. These qualities are similar to the scenes drawn by Ben Nicholson in St Ives, and form part of a rich heritage of South-West England which should be preserved and celebrated.

The proposals seek to work with these existing site qualities, both acknowledging and supplementing them.

View north west across Dorchester roofscape

Grain of Dorchester

A view over the rooftops of St Ives by Ben Nicholson - Precedent drawing

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Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3 Building 13.3.1 Organisation Basement The Collections Discovery Centre proposals include a new basement below the old Craft Market site. This space provides critical additional floor area and volume on the already densely occupied site.

The new space is occupied by the archival collections (literature, photography, art and elements of archaeology and geology) which benefit from several environmental aspects of the basement. Firstly by employing an uninsulated wall construction, the archive makes use of the fact that the ambient temperature below ground does not vary significantly throughout the year, and therefore any variation is very gradual. This ensures that the artefacts avoid a sharp thermal shock, and any changes in temperature and subsequent expansion or contraction happen over a very long period. The benefits of utilising the ambient heat sink of the earth also include reduced energy consumption (both in carbon and bills) and other benefits such as reduced dependency on back up generators and plant (for power cut scenarios). A small dehumidification unit will be required, but this will only be used periodically to deal with more extreme weather conditions.

The archive will consist of rolling racking, providing very efficient dense storage. The semi-enclosed nature of the rolling racking allows a further degree of control over the environmental conditions, and helps to prevent environmental variations from affecting the artefacts themselves. The roller racking allows users of all physical abilities to fully access all items of the collections.

The proposed storage is arranged over two levels, which are visible from a public viewing ‘gallery’. This gallery reveals the ‘behind the scenes’ to the public, allowing them to understand the signifiance and expanse of the Museum’s collections.

Proposed Basement

Proposed Basement - Mezzanine

Dorset County Museum November 2014 127

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3.1 Organisation Ground floor The proposed ground floor arrangement addresses many of the Museum’s current problems, and greatly improves the current layout.

One of the current problems of the existing layout is the lack of street presence. The new layout sees the Museum’s book and gift shop moved onto High West Street, which will provide vastly increased streetfrontage and subsequently increases footfall to the shop significantly. Similarly, the current library space will become the new café/restaurant, providing an active public usage at street level that will offer an intermediate space between the street and Museum.

This area will inform those cafe users of the Museum’s activities and treasures, and encourage them to explore the rest of the Museum.

In addition to improved street presence, the proposed layout provides new circulation spaces and routes that connect the existing Museum with the Collections Discovery Centre to the West. This circulation provides step free access to all areas of the Museum, vastly improving both accessibility for visitors and the movement of artefacts and objects around the Museum. The new routes will allow individual visitors to define their own route through the galleries, and affect their experience to suit their personal interests.

All of the Museum’s galleries will be more visible from the central circulation space, which will provide opportunities for visitors to explore areas that would usually be out of their field of interest.

The ground floor also houses some of the key public spaces, which have very specific functional requirements. The temporary gallery and learning space have both been located to have dedicated access off of the street, avoiding the need to traverse the public areas of the Museum. This is particularly important when receiving deliveries of precious artefacts for temporary exhibitions, and also allows groups in the learning space to be separated from the public.

Proposed Ground Floor

Proposed First Floor

First Floor The first floor layout allows for the retention of several of the successful existing galleries, especially those with high value fit-outs. The proposals enable the Archaeology and Geology collections to benefit from having a direct connection between the archive/ store, working space and gallery space, which allows visitors to experience the workings of the collections. In addition to this, controlled circumstances access will provide a ‘behind the scenes’ experience for visitors.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 128

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3.1 Organisation Second floor The second floor is largely new floor area. With its elevated position the spaces benefit from impressive views across the roofs of Dorchester and to the countryside beyond. These views have a particularly strong resonance with the Fine Art gallery and its impressive collection, including many paintings of Dorset landscapes. Part of the second floor will therefore accommodate the Fine Arts. Also at this level is the Textiles and Costume gallery, along with its dedicated workspace that will be visible to the public.

Perhaps the finest new space in the proposals is reserved for the library. The library has always been central to the working of the Museum and is the one space which links all of the collections together. The proposed library will benefit from fantastic views and, together with the new researcher’s space, forms a quiet area for specialised work and contemplation.

Roof The roof-scape is one of the key aspects of the building and is the primary external expression of the proposed Collection Discovery Centre. In keeping with the existing pitched roofs of Dorchester, a series of pitched roofs undulate across the site. These roofs are modulated to follow the internal spaces, which are volumetrically characterful as a result.

This modulation of the pitched roofs also allows the proposals to adapt to the site boundaries, in a manner that is sensitive to the neighbouring buildings and spaces. The pitched roofs with gable ends provide extensive opportunities for bringing north light into the spaces, which is preferable for daylit galleries requiring a degree of lux control.

Proposed Second Floor

Proposed Roof

Dorset County Museum November 2014 129

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3.2 Access

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Str ee t

Ca fe u Bo s ok eum sh op M

The new proposals will significantly improve access to the Museum. A new entrance point to the Museum will be created on Colliton Street (by John White’s Rectory) along with a new entrance at 65 High West Street. The addition of these two new entrance points will significantly improve the operational running of the Museum, and allow flexibility in the opening of individual areas.

The entrance on Colliton St will provide several benefits. Firstly, it will allow direct deliveries to be made to the Temporary Gallery, which will avoid cross over with the public and reduce the risk of damage to artefacts. Secondly, this entrance will allow education groups to directly access the Learning Space, controlling the interaction between these groups and other visitors. It will also allow the Learning Space to operate outside the Museum’s core opening hours.

The proposed entrance to High West Street will provide dedicated access to the new and expanded shop offer, allowing it to operate outside of the Museum’s core opening hours if required. Furthermore, this will enable the shop to develop its own identity, as a dedicated shop in its own right rather than just a source of Museum merchandise.

13.3.3 Security The security of the Museum will be significantly improved by the new proposals. These improvements will cover the provision of a dedicated security alarm and monitoring system, the removal of areas of risk on the Museum’s estate, and re-locating valuable pieces of the collection into dedicated storage facilities.

A new security system will be developed with a security consultant, to ensure that the specific needs of the gallery are met in the most effective manner possible.

The Museum estate currently has a number of buildings which are unoccupied and in many instances derelict. It is proposed that these buildings are either demolished or made secure through the deterrent of passive surveillance and human activity.

Much of the collection is currently stored in buildings which are isolated from the daily activities of the Museum and were originally intended for entirely different uses. By relocating the collection into dedicated storage spaces, effective access control can be implemented alongside the deterrent of passive surveillance and human activity.

et re

St st e hW

g

Hi

Dorset County Museum November 2014 130

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3.4 Phasing The potential need to phase the project has been carefully considered. However, due to the nature of the site and its limited access, the building does not lend itself to phased construction. This is primarily due to the fact that the most extensive works are located in the centre of the site, requiring disruptive access.

While it may be possible to manage the partial closure of the Museum, it is felt that the amount of disruption that construction would cause will preclude any meaningful phasing of the works.

Second Floor

The only ‘phasable’ elements possible are the façade (café/shop) and the renewal of the existing galleries.

Doing these in a second phase would not reduce the ‘first phase’ cost significantly, but would impact outcomes in terms of visitor experience / perception and the Museum’s business plan.

13.3.5 Circulation and visitor flow First Floor

The new proposals seek to consolidate the circulation and provide clear and coherent orientation throughout the Museum. The Museum has several different types of visitors with distinct needs. These different types of visitor are reflected in the character of the Museum, with its nationally and internationally significant collection, which is intrinsically rooted in Dorset.

The proposed circulation within the Museum seeks to cater for two distinct types of visitor; the individual with one particular area of interest and the individual with a more general interest in the collection.

Ground Floor

The central circulation space allows the visitor with a specialist interest to access the relevant area directly, without having to pass through the other galleries.

However, this space also allows the visitor with a more general interest to explore all the galleries from one central area.

Mezzanine / Basement

This strategy aids orientation for all, offering a simple and clear journey through the galleries but without pre-defining a singular route. The proposed circulation encourages individuals to form their own route through the building.

Basement

Visitor route 1: Specific Interest in a single collection

Collections

Circulation

Visitor route 2: General interest in multiple collections

Dorset County Museum November 2014 131

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.3.6 Front and Back of House areas

450

The adjacent graph compares the existing against the proposed Front of House area, and the same for Back of House area.

It is clear from the graph that the Collections Discovery Centre will greatly improve public access to the collections, both directly and by visually revealing back of house space.

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

Proposed - Front of House

Shop / CafĂŠ

Admin / Management

Learning

Volunteers

Researchers

Digitisation

Societies

Library

Temporary Gallery

General Gallery

Literature

Geology

Archaeology

Fine Art

Social History

50

Textiles and Costume

Proposed - Publically Viewable 0

Natural History

Area (square metres)

50

Collection / function

Proposed - Back of House Existing - Front of House Existing - Back of House

100 100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Dorset County Museum November 2014 132

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.4 Room 13.4.1 Entrance and circulation The entrance to the proposed Collections Discovery Centre greatly improves the legibility of the Museum, offering visual and physical access to many of the galleries. This central area acts as an entrance, a circulation space, an orientation area and a gallery to bring together all of the Museum’s collections (see entrance and circulation image below).

• • • •

13.4.2 Exhibition / Gallery The proposals create a series of new galleries which will enable the display of various collections that currently have little or no presence in public display areas. Alongside this, the Museum has reconsidered its entire institution to ensure that all spaces are in their optimum location in the proposed organisation.

•

Each space within the Museum has been assessed and then either retained or relocated in order to maximise efficiency and functionality. The Victorian Hall, Writers Dorset and Jurassic Coast galleries will be retained as they have a particular connection with their existing space and there is little benefit in relocating them.

However, all other collections will be moved to greatly improved galleries.

•

• •

No conflict between noise from learning groups and other visitors seeking a more contemplative experience.

Large flexible space suitable for school groups, adult learning groups and other community groups and activities.

Direct connection to dedicated storage.

The ability to leave tables and chairs out between sessions (alleviating the need to repeatedly clear away and set up) allowing more efficient use of staff and volunteer time.

Dedicated facilities such as sinks and a kitchenette, opening up a far wider range of activities.

A designed, fit for purpose space. For example, flooring which is not cold for school groups to sit on.

The potential to be opened outside Museum hours for community uses, due to its dedicated entrance.

The possibility of increased revenue for the Museum through renting the space for various activities and events, such as conferences.

The new gallery spaces have been organised to fulfil a number of criteria including their proximity to archive space, the availability and need for environmental control, the suitability of daylight, a desire for views, and many others.

13.4.3 Cafe and Shop The existing library will become the new café/ restaurant, providing an active public usage at street level that will provide an intermediate space between the street and Museum. This area will inform cafe users of the Museum’s activities and treasures, and encourage them to explore the rest of the Museum.

The proposed Fine Art gallery overlooks the rooftops of Dorset to the countryside beyond.

13.4.4 Learning The learning space will provide a significant improvement in the facilities offered to school groups, adult leaning groups and other member of the community. The current arrangement is fundamentally flawed and not fit for purpose, as analysed in the building audit (section 11). The dedicated learning space will bring the following improvements to the Museum: • A secure space allowing users to be either isolated from or connected with the public.

• Dedicated and secure WCs and cloakroom.

• Direct entry from Colliton St, allowing access without traversing the main Museum spaces.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 133

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.5 Collections: storage, conservation and access 13.5.1 Archive and conservation The archives are some of the most important spaces in the proposals. The current Museum archives suffer from deficiencies which, in many instances, are placing the collections at risk. The Collection Discovery Centre aim to conserve the heritage and history of the Museum and its collections, by fulfilling the following criteria: Environment The new archives will provide a space which provides controlled environmental conditions throughout the year. In compiling a suitable brief for the environmental conditions, current best practice guidance was consulted (PD5454, Government Indemnity Standards).

Furthermore, a series of recently completed archive spaces were analysed to benchmark their design and built performance. The environmental control will vary slightly between each archive space, but all will aim to provide consistent temperature and humidity. The basement archive will make use of the consistent ground temperature surrounding it, minimising dangerous fluctuations. Humidity will be mechanically controlled, and areas with especially strict requirements will be locally controlled with desiccant.

Access The archives will be fully accessible from a flat and level floor, and connected to lifts providing step free access from the loading bays. This will enable artefacts to be transported using trolleys, rather than by volunteers carrying them up and down stairs, as is currently required. This will alleviate the risk to both volunteers and artefacts that is inherent in the current situation.

The basement archive is publicly viewable, allowing visitors to interact with heritage in a new and exciting way. The offers an enhanced visitor experience, increasing knowledge of conservation and the inner workings of the Museum.

Open Access One of the key objectives of the proposals is to ‘open’ the archives to the public. This will happen in a variety of ways, from creating visual links to allowing controlled access with members of staff. The benefits of this are wide ranging: • Offering visitors a different and engaging museum experience.

• Exposing visitors to the wealth and breadth of knowledge that the Museum holds beyond the display galleries (setting it apart from many local competitors).

• Highlighting the opportunities for involvement to visitors, therefore acting as a volunteer recruitment tool.

• Allowing further opportunities for volunteers to interact and engage with visitors.

• Highlighting that archive material and exhibits are always changing and evolving, encouraging return visits.

• Allowing visitors to make their own connections between artefacts from different collections.

• Enabling access to objects that would not usually be displayed in a conventional public gallery or display.

• Allowing a display approach which is less curatorial and narrative driven, instead highlighting objects as individual pieces. This is well suited to the eclectic nature of the Museum’s collection.

• Emphasising that the Museum is a working, living entity.

Organisation The new proposals seek to place the archive spaces adjacent to the collections workspace. This has several benefits; limiting distances that objects are transported, easing the logistics of research, directly moving between two similar atmospheric conditions and increasing public visibility of the connection between archive and workspace. Broadly, the workspaces are divided between ‘dirty’ (archaeology, geology) and ‘clean’ (fine art, textiles, etc), and to some degree each collection has a crossover between these requirements. The proposal for a shared workspace will significantly increase the possibility of these activities becoming visible to the public.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 134

Part Five: Our Project 13. Preferred Option 13.6 Staff and Volunteer access The volunteers that work at the Museum are absolutely fundamental to its existence and one of the key components of this unique Museum. At present there are limited facilities for these volunteers; the development of these spaces is a key requirement to increase the number of volunteers. The proposals see the volunteers’ facilities combined with the permanent staff members area in the St Peter’s Institute building.

This greatly improves the quality of their amenities and also symbolically emphasises the importance of the volunteers to the Museum. The use of the St Peter’s Institute building also opens up the opportunity for training and other activities to take place outside of Museum opening hours, as it is a completely independent building.

13.7 Researchers The current facilities offered to researchers are completely inadequate, considering the significance of the collection and the number of researchers who request to visit the Museum to study artefacts.

Currently, the large numbers of requests are generated without any advertising or promotion. The provision of a high quality, dedicated researcher space will entice more researchers to the Museum, greatly improving the Museum’s status as a research institution. It will enable monitoring and invigilation between collections and will increase access to all artefacts, revealing this wealth of knowledge and heritage to a much wider audience.

13.9 Initial cost estimate For cost breakdowns, please refer to Jackson Coles cost report, Appendix C. Development phase costs *

£658,916

Delivery phase capital costs *

£9,717,197

Delivery phase activity costs

£510,300

Delivery phase - other costs *

£2,858,617

Total (excluding VAT)

£13,745,031

*includes inflation and contingency

13.8 Capital cost Cost consultants Jackson Coles have been involved closely through the development of the RIBA Stage B designs for the Collections Discovery Centre, and in the analysis of all the options presented in this study.

A full cost plan for the preferred option is included as Appendix C of this study. The adjacent headline breakdown of the estimated costs of delivering the project details the split between construction costs, costs of activities, consultant fees, and contingency.

The proposed entrance and circulation gallery greatly improves the legibility of the building, giving direct views to various galleries. This space acts as an entrance hall, meeting space, collection gallery and circulation route, inviting visitors to explore the Collections Discovery Centre further.

In the light of its VAT status, the Museum has been advised by its auditors that VAT on expenditure by the charity can be fully reclaimed. The museum is not part of the cultural exemption scheme and charges VAT at the standard rate on admissions. Furthermore it is not an eligible body for education exemption and charges VAT at the standard rate on its educational services and the surpluses it makes are not ringfenced for education. The Museum’s status with regard to education exemption was confirmed in writing

by HMRC in May 2013. A letter from the Museum’s auditors is included as Appendix W, along with letters from HMRC confirming the Museum’s position with regard to cultural exemption and educational exemption.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 135

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 14. Capital Fundraising Strategy

14. Capital Fundraising Strategy Section 14 outlines our strategy for raising the required funding for the project.

A more detailed breakdown of our targets is included in Appendix E.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 136

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 14. Capital Fundraising Strategy 14.1 Fundraising track record and capacity Dorset County Museum has a good track record of generating income from a wide range of sources, including lottery funds, trusts and foundations and local community support through its membership. This is currently achieved without any dedicated fundraising capacity in the staff or volunteer team.

Source

Target

Notes

Heritage Lottery Fund

£10,000,000

Stage 1 HLF Application

Local authorities

£790,000

DCC, WDDC (s106/CIL), DTC. This figure includes £200,000 from Dorset County Council and £30,000 from Dorchester Town Council, which has been secured as match funding for the Development Phase costs of the CDC project.

ACE Museums’ Resilience Fund

£93,000

Application pending for 2 years capital fundraiser Salary

Trust and Foundations

£1,587,000

Comprising a combination of local private family trusts and national T&Fs that support arts, heritage, literature, learning and community activities (List of targets contained in Appendix E).

Local business support

£140,000

Includes commitment from Lloyds Bank Dorchester for £60,000.

Our fundraising strategy, which is attached as Appendix E of this study, is based on research of available sources of funding and realistic assessment of success. These sources and targets are listed in the adjacent table. These figures do not include the £272,000 worth of volunteer time anticipated in the Development Phase.

Individuals (Community)

£78,000

Community support through DNHAS members.

Individuals (High Net Worth)

£250,000

A fundraising campaign from local HNW individuals will be undertaken.

Naming rights / corporate support

£250,000

A strategy for developing corporate support from regionally significant corporates will be developed.

We have already secured a total of £230,000 towards the costs of the Development Phase from Dorset County Council and Dorchester Town Council.

Property sale Sale of Colliton Street buildings

£285,000

Property valuation, appended to this report.

Total

£13,473,000 *

14.2 Capital funding strategy We recognise that the present economic climate will prove challenging for a major capital campaign. As a result it is acknowledged that without significant lottery investment it will not be feasible to realise the level of development that is required to enable the Dorset County Museum to fulfil its transformational vision to:

“Refurbish the facilities for the storage of its collections, whilst maintaining a balanced budget, in order to develop and display collections that will enable people to have a better understanding of the history and culture of Dorset.”

14.3 Fundraising capacity Whilst the museum has previously been successful in raising funds locally for revenue projects without any dedicated fundraising capacity, it is recognised that a target of this scale will need dedicated fundraising capacity.

Public Sector

Private sector

* This total does not include the value of volunteer time that will be contributed to the development phase of the project.

The Museum’s preferred option is to recruit a dedicated in-house fundraiser on a fixed-term contract for the duration of the project. An allowance for this capacity has been made across the delivery and development phase of the project of £140,000, which is the equivalent of the gross salary (including on-costs) for a Fundraising and Development Manager post for three years at £40,000 p.a. (excluding on costs).

This post will be recruited as soon as possible following a Stage 1 award from HLF and will be in post throughout the development period and into the first year of delivery.

Details of where this post will sit within the overall Project Management structure is included in Section 14 of this study.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 137

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan

15. Development Phase Plan Section 15 details our plans for the development phase of the Collections Discovery Centre, between an HLF Stage 1 award and Stage 2 application. The Development Phase Plan describes our approach to project management, procurement and organisational capacity. We recognise that we will need to develop significant extra capacity to deliver this project, which we intend to provide through the recruitment of new colleagues and collaboration with procured consultants. Briefs and job descriptions are appended to this study. Section 15 also includes a Development Phase timetable and a summary of our approach to risk.

Dorset County Museum November 2014 138

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan 15.1 Overview of the Development Phase

The rest of the Development Phase Plan outlines:

This section outlines DCM’s plans for the development phase of the project and beyond into the delivery phase.

•

The aim of the development phase is to progress the plans for transforming the Museum through to the Heritage Lottery Fund Stage 2 submission, which in architectural terms will mean RIBA Stage D with planning permission submitted, and in funding terms will mean that the majority (90%) of the match funding has been secured.

We anticipate that the development phase will last between 18-24 months, taking account of: • • • • • •

The procurement period for the design team and other consultants The design complexity of the project, The scale of the match funding campaign, The required level of planning for activities and conservation management Additional consultation required in support of the activity plan Further development of the museum’s business plan

The provisional timetable for the project as a whole is as follows: April 2015 HLF Round 1 decision April - June 2015 Recruitment of Client Project

Manager and Fundraiser and Development Manager May - December 2015 Tenders for Round 2 consultants and services,

including OJEU process

for the design team April 2015 - April 2017 Round 2 development phase April 2017 Submission of Round 2 bid to

HLF June 2017 HLF Round 2 decision June 2017 - April 2020 Delivery Phase April 2020 Museum is re-opened A more detailed timetable for the development phase, including design team, staff and consultant appointments and timelines for each distinct work stream is included in section 15.6 below. A timeline is included as Appendix B. This timeline also includes some further detail on our plans for the delivery phase, including completion of the design stages, letting the main contract and construction work.

• • • •

Roles and responsibilities including specific project management and governance arrangements and current organisational capacity Additional staff and consultant capacity required during the development and delivery phases Consultant Procurement Deliverables and timetable Risk

Consultant briefs and job descriptions are included as appendices to this document.

15.2 Project management and governance arrangements The management structure is shown it the adjacent diagram.

The project sponsor is the Museum’s board of trustees.

Trustees have delegated responsibility for project delivery to the Project Executive who is the Museum Director, Jon Murden. The Project Executive retains ultimate responsibility for the Project and makes all key decisions.

The Project Executive will lead an internal project team consisting of the Client Project Manager (see below), who will be responsible for liaison with the design team and other external consultants, Fundraising and Development Manager (see below) and the Marketing Manager (existing post), Collections Manager (existing post) and Education Officer (existing post).

The project team will meet fortnightly and its agendas will be structured around the continual review of the following key tools: • • • • •

Capital budget Design development Design and construction programme with milestones Fundraising tracker with targets / applications / secured funding Risk Register

during the Delivery Phase. Our Client Project Manager will be appointed to see the project through the Development Phase to completion of the Delivery Phase. Additional external project management consultant time has been allowed for during the construction period in our cost plan to provide assistance to the Client Project Manager.

Governance The project team will be overseen from a Governance perspective by the Project Board. This will be a sub committee of the board of trustees with a membership comprising trustee representatives as well as co-opted external members with specific areas of expertise such as architecture, building, planning, finance and project management. The Director, Client Project Manager and Capital Fundraiser will also attend Project Board meetings.

In addition a Fundraising sub-committee is planned, which will offer the opportunity to co-opt a number of external non-trustees with expertise and contacts into the project. This subcommittee will both monitor fundraising progress, but also actively work with the organisation to deliver the fundraising targets, particularly around corporates and individuals.

Further controls will be in place through external project monitoring by HLF and the Local Authority.

Delegated powers

Client Project Manager Fundraiser and Development Manager Fixed term capital project specific staff

Finance and fundraising The project income and expenditure budget will be maintained and managed by the Client Project Manager, the Fundraiser and Development Manager.

This will ensure that expenditure is effectively controlled, that design decisions are strongly informed by cost considerations and that the team has a continually updated picture of fundraising progress.

The budget will be reported to the Project Team and the Project Board. The Treasurer will report the capital income and expenditure budget to board meetings.

Fundraising progress will also be monitored through the Fundraising sub-committee, the chair of which will report on specific details and progress with fundraising to the board.

Project team meetings will be attended alternately (or jointly where appropriate) by the QS and architect. They will be minuted and the minutes circulated by the PA to the Director.

Delivery Phase Project Management These project management structures will continue

Dorset County Museum November 2014 139

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan 15.3 Organisational capacity and key additional team members DCM Director Jon Murden has previous experience of a major museum capital project at National Museums Liverpool. As a result the board of DCM recognises that a major capital project places significant additional pressures on any organisation; and this is particularly so in an organisation such as DCM with a small core staff team.

The museum has identified a number of areas in which it will require additional capacity in the Development Phase, in addition to the services provided by the core design team:

• • • • • •

•

Project Management Capital Fundraising Developing the Activity and Evaluation Plan and undertaking evaluation Developing a Conservation Plan Developing the Business Plan

•

Additional required capacity in Collections Management, Education and Marketing has been identified in the Delivery Stage (post HLF Round 2), which will be provided through the Activity Plan and other post-Round 2 funding.

•

• • • • •

This extra development phase capacity will be achieved through a combination of: • •

Additional fixed term project specific staff Additional consultant support

Fixed-term project-specific staff The two primary gaps in capacity at DCM are in Fundraising and Project Management. Both of these will be addressed through the appointment of fixedterm posts that are included in the overall project budget.

For the development stage, the Museum has decided to appoint a Client Project Manager to its staff, to be supplemented by external consultant support when this might be required (for example around the OJEU process). Additional consultant project management capacity will be utilised during the pre- construction, construction and completion phases (i.e. the delivery phase) Client Project Manager Salary: £30,000 p.a. + on costs Duration: 4.5 years (throughout the Development stage and into the Delivery stage to practical completion) Main Duties: • To be the main client point of contact for the capital

•

project To manage the procurement of consultants and advisers throughout the project To create and execute project work plans and revise as appropriate To manage day-to-day operational aspects of the project To identify resources needed and assign responsibilities To support and report to the Project Board To work closely with the Finance Manager and Director to ensure robust and clear financial and budgeting systems and controls for the capital project are in place.

To provide financial reporting and other management information on a timely basis.

To chair fortnightly internal project meetings, attend design team meetings as the client representative, and report as required to the Project Board To work closely with the external Project Manager and Cost Consultant to enforce control of the programme and cost on behalf of DCM To be the main point of contact for the local authority with regard to planning, land ownership etc., working closely with the Director.

Fundraising and Development Manager Salary: £40,000 p.a. + on costs Duration: 3 years (throughout the Development stage and into the Delivery stage) Main Duties: • To develop and implement DCM’s Capital Fundraising Strategy • To develop, implement and manage an individual giving programme • To research and implement a corporate circle • To identify and raise income from Trusts and Foundations • To manage a Development Committee • To work closely with the colleagues including the Director, Finance Manager and Marketing Manager, as required • To devise, manage and oversee a programme of fundraising activities • To ensure fundraising data and statistics are accurately logged • To provide statistical fundraising information when required • To monitor the database and advise on how it can be used and/or updated to aid analysis and performance of all areas of responsibility Consultant design team

architect, who will also manage consultants undertaking other design related elements, including structural engineering, building services, cost consultant and permanent exhibition and interpretation planning and design. The latter consultants will develop the Interpretation and Exhibition Plan from our initial interpretation brief through to design and delivery.

Other consultant support Specialist consultant support will be sought to assist the museum in the following areas of development and planning during the development stage: •

•

•

Activity Plan and Evaluation consultant: to work with the Director, Education Officer, Collections Manager and Marketing Manager to develop and write the Activity Plan. A budget of £40,000 has been allowed in the total project budget.

The brief for the Activity Plan includes additional consultation with staff, volunteers, the public, community groups and other stakeholders. This consultant will also be required to develop an evaluation framework for the delivery stage and to undertake proposed evaluation.

Conservation Plan consultant: to work with the Collections Manager and collections volunteers to develop and write the Conservation Management Plan. A budget of £20,000 has been allowed in the total project budget.

Business Plan consultant: to work with the Director, Finance Manager, Front of House Manager and other staff to develop and write DCM’s business plan. A budget of £15,000 has been allowed in the total project budget (this is a reduced amount as some business planning work has already been undertaken).

15.4 Procurement and Consultant Briefs The following job and consultant briefs are included as Appendix G: • • • • •

Client Project Manager – Job Description Fundraising and Development Manager – Job Description Activity Planning and Evaluation consultant – Brief Conservation Plan consultant – Brief Business Planning consultant – Brief

Job descriptions and briefs will be publicised through a range of channels and listings including Arts Council England, Museums Association and the University of Leicester Museum Studies Job Desk, as well as through staff and stakeholder networks. Selection criteria are included in the attached briefs and job descriptions.

15.5 Design team procurement The design team, including architects, engineers, cost consultant and consultants to develop the Interpretation and Exhibition Plan for the new permanent galleries will be tendered as a single contract via the OJEU process. The Client Project Manager, with external Project Management support, will draw up the detailed brief for the design team at the beginning of the development stage as part of the OJEU tender process. This study will form part of that brief.

Additional museum staff during the delivery phase In recognition of the additional workload that the project will generate, the outline Activity Plan and Business Plan include increased capacity in a number of staff roles. These posts will be recruited at the beginning of the delivery phase and job descriptions for these posts will form part of the brief for the activity planning and business planning consultants.

• • • • • •

Marketing Manager (additional 0.4 FTE) Education Officer (additional 0.4 FTE) Education Assistant (0.6 FTE) Collections Manager (additional 0.4 FTE) Assistant Collections Manager (additional 0.6 FTE) Exhibition and Events Officer (additional 0.8 FTE)

Lead Design Consultant The Lead design consultant will be the scheme

Dorset County Museum November 2014 140

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan Task

Rd 1 standing

Development phase requirements

Responsibility

Timing

The tasks to be carried out in the development phase are listed in the adjacent summary table. A timeline including these tasks and their timings is included as Appendix B.

Selection and appointment of project team Internal management team

Director and Museum staff

Appoint new fixed term project staff (Client Project Manager and Capital Fundraiser)

Director and Trustees

See below

Client Project Manager

Role undertaken by Director

Role to be advertised and successful candidate appointed

Director and Trustees

April-June 2015

Capital Fundraiser

Role undertaken by Director

Role to be advertised and successful candidate appointed

Director and Trustees

April-June 2015

Design Team

Carmody Groarke (architects) with Price & Myers (structural engineers), Skelly & Couch (M&E) and Jackson Coles (costs)

Role(s) to be tendered through OJEU process (see narrative above).

Development stage team will include interpretation and exhibition planning/design capacity

Client Project Manager / July – December 2015 External Project Manager (OJEU process)

Other external consultants

Business Planning – Counterculture

Roles to be tendered and successful candidate appointed

Client Project Manager

May – July 2015

Activity Planning (including audience research and consultation) – Counterculture with Anne Millman

15.6 Summary of key development phase deliverables and timetable

Conservation Management – DCM Director with support from Helene Janscke, ACE Conservation Development Officer for South West England

Financial appraisal Business Plan

Outline 10 year business plan undertaken to support Stage 1

Full business plan to be worked up in conjunction with emerging Round 2 development, to be fully integrated into the design and planning process

Business Planning consultant

Jul 2015 – Feb 2017

Secure all required match funding

Director has undertaken fundraising to date

At least 90% of match funding to be secured by HLF Stage 2 submission

Capital fundraiser

Jul 2015 – Feb 2017 (90%) Feb 2017 – Feb 2018 (10%)

Risk Register

Initial risk register drafted by Jackson Coles

Update Risk Register

Client Project Manager

Throughout project

Dorset County Museum November 2014 141

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan Task

Rd 1 standing

Development phase requirements

Responsibility

Timing

Management and Maintenance Planning Conservation Plan

Outline statement of conservation and collection management requirements included in Stage 1 supporting document

Full Conservation Plan to be produced

Conservation Plan Consultant

Jul 2015 – Dec 2015

Collections Management Plan

Initial R1 work by Director with support from Helena Janscke, ACE Regional Conservation Development Officer

Collection Management Plan integrated with Conservation Management Plan

Director / Collections Manager with support from Helena Janscke

Jul 2015 – Feb 2017

Management and Maintenance Plan

Initial R1 work by Montagu Evans / Carmody Groarke (see section 11, building audit)

Management and Maintenance Plan for the renewed Museum building

Client Project Manager and Design Team

Oct 2016 – Feb 2017

Embed operating costs in business plan

Operating costs for renewed building estimated in Stage 1 business plan

More detailed operational and lifecycle costs to be developed and embedded in the Business Plan

Cost consultant, Business Plan Consultant

Jul 2015 – Feb 2017

Outline Activity Plan proposed in Stage 1 supporting document, based on initial audience and stakeholder consultation (also included in Stage 1 document)

Full programme of consultation and research leading to finalised activity plan. Evaluation plan included in activity planning brief.

Activity Plan consultant

Jul 2015 – Feb 2017

Building and interpretation designs to be developed to RIBA Stage D

Feasibility, options analysis and building designs developed to RIBA Stage B+.

Outline interpretation plan produced.

Develop detailed design with further client input and specialist support.

Ensure proposals fully integrated with business pan, activity plan and conservation management plan.

Design team

Jan – March 2016 (Stage C) April – Aug 2016 (Stage D)

Carbon footprint assessment

Initial overview of services undertaken

by Services

Carbon footprint assessment of existing building and emerging design

Services Consultant working within the design team

Jan – March 2016 (Stage C) April – Aug 2016 (Stage D)

Secure Planning Permission and other consents

Initial consultation with the planning department undertaken. Positive feedback received.

Undertake Archaeological and other surveys.

Apply for planning permission.

Client Project Manager and Design Team

September 2016 (planning submitted) January 2017 (planning secured)

Activity Planning Produce activity and evaluation plan

Site and design development

Dorset County Museum November 2014 142

Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan Task

Rd 1 standing

Development phase requirements

Responsibility

Timing

Undertake research into interpretation ideas

Initial research undertaken as part of audience consultation in support of Stage 1 application

Build in consultation on interpretation proposals into Activity and Evaluation Plan consultation

Activity and Evaluation Plan Consultant and Design Team

Sep 2015 – March 2016

Develop integrated interpretation scheme

Outline interpretation plan produced.

Prepare integrated Interpretation and Exhibition plan.

Produce detailed and costed proposals to match with RIBA D proposals.

Design Team

Jan – Aug 2016

Museum fully operational

Museum fully operational during development phase. Closure planned during final stages of construction.

Director and museum staff and volunteers

Throughout development phase

Collation of Documents

N/A

Identify, list and pull together required documents for application

Client Project Manager

Feb-April 2017

Implementation Phase Plan

N/A

Prepare Implementation Phase Plan

Client Project Manager

March 2017

Submit application

N/A

Write, review, approve before submitting application

Director, Capital Fundraiser, Trustees

April 2017

Interpretation development

Continuation of activities during development round, prior to and during building works Core museum activities

HLF Round 2 Application

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Part Six: Development Phase Plan 15. Development Phase Plan 15.7 Risk A risk workshop facilitated by Jackson Coles was held at the beginning of this feasibility stage attended by Museum staff and trustees, Carmody Groarke and Counterculture. Key risks in the following areas were considered: • • • •

Planning risks, including capital funding Construction risks Activity risks: the delivery of the Activity Plan, new staff recruitment, volunteer recruitment, audience satisfaction, delivery of outcomes Operational risks: the delivery of the business plan in the long term, maintenance of assets, future income generation.

A further workshop was held midway through the process to review risk was being managed and mitigated in the various work streams contributing to the project.

A risk register, which takes account of the likelihood and impact of each risk, details the consequence of risks being realised, mitigating action required and responsibility for each risk is included as Appendix V of this report.

The risk register has been reviewed at board level and will continue to be reviewed and updated as the project progresses. As noted in 15.2 above, the risk register will form a cornerstone of the internal project team’s fortnightly agenda and will therefore be a key management tool for the Museum as the project progresses.

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