​
The Plymouth ‘History Centre’ (working title) is a major £34m scheme in the heart of Plymouth city, a symbol for the city’s current regeneration and a museum for the future. The vision is to transform the existing Museum and Art Gallery, the adjoining Central Library and St Luke's Church buildings into a new, unique visitor attraction. The name for the development should be available by Spring 2017. Many ideas have been put forward by the Friends and by the public.

The Central Library has taken on a new site at the corner of Armada Way and Mayflower Street, at the top of town.
St. Luke’s Church behind the present museum is to be a building for incoming works of art and as a cultural centre for Plymouth. The Friends hope to see this for all the arts groups within the city, including all ethnicities, to be able to display their form of art such as music, dance, plays, paintings, ceramics, metal works etc.

The new development will enable to shine a light on the city's collections and make them more available to Plymouth residents and visitors to Plymouth, in a way which has not been done before.
The ‘History Centre’ is expected to open as the flagship building for Plymouth's Mayflower 400 commemorations in 2020. The vision is to have the following themes:
 
Sir Francis Drake and Scott of the Antarctic.
The city’s relationship with the Royal Navy both past and present.
Plymouth’s part in the sailing of the Mayflower to America 400 years ago.
Life below the water to include marine life and shipwrecks.
Exhibition space to celebrate Plymouth’s prehistoric landscape.
Galleries highlighting the west country’s artistic legacy to include Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Cottonian Collection and the Newlyn Artists.

The Plymouth City Council (PCC) are currently in the Development Phase - an intense period of planning and consulting. While there may not be much to see while all this preparation is taking place behind the scenes, this is an exciting time for everyone involved and is the period during which the final concepts and ideas for the ‘History Centre’ will be firmed up.
What will it look like? What will it contain? How will people use it? How will they interact with it? What do we the Friends and the PCC want it to achieve? These are the questions we are currently considering. We the Friends see it as starting a journey through the heritage of Plymouth, when entering the front door.

A considerable amount of work has already taken place. Staff from the partner organisations have been seeking advice and knowledge from other cities and cultural centres, as well as looking at best practice and good working models. The main partner organisations are SWFTA (South West Film & TV Archive), SWIB (South West Image Bank), the Library Archives and the PWDRO (Plymouth & West Devon Record Office). These organisations are spread around the city at present, but eventually they shall be brought together in the new building giving better access for the residents of Plymouth and visitors who need to know more about the heritage of Plymouth.

Work has been carried out with world renowned consultants on the design, content and organisational development aspects of the project. At various stages throughout this process they have also been consulting with us the Friends and the wider public to seek opinions and test out ideas. The Development Phase is now complete and the building work begins in early 2017.
 
During the three-year closure of the Museum and Art Gallery, the Friends must decide whether to change our name and constitution to fit in with any new Objects and Aims. In addition, we must keep our members aware of the progress of the development, and keep up our regular coffee mornings and trips out to special places of interest. We also need to increase our membership to reflect the upgrading to the new attraction and to get people to come with us on this historic journey.

The Friends have supported this innovative venture from its inception and look forward to seeing the building work in progress, and the finished development opening in the Spring of 2020.
 
Michael Moore
Chairman FPCMAG

​CHANGES AT THE PLYMOUTH CITY MUSEUM & ART GALLERY
As you may know the Plymouth ‘History Centre’ (working title) is a major scheme in the heart of the city, a symbol for Plymouth's current regeneration and a museum for the future. The vision is to transform the existing Museum and Art Gallery, Central Library and St Luke's Church buildings into a new, unique visitor attraction. The real name of the development should be available by April 2016. Many ideas have been muted by the Friends and also by the general public.
The Central Library will be taking on a new site at the corner of Armada Way and Mayflower Street. This should be completed by the middle of next year.
St. Luke’s Church behind the museum is to be a building for incoming works of art and also as a cultural centre for Plymouth. The Friends hope to see this for all the arts groups within the city, including all ethnicities, to be able to display their form of art such as music, dance, plays, paintings, ceramics, metal works etc.
The ‘History Centre’ will enable to shine a light on the city's collections and make them more available to local residents and visitors to Plymouth, in a way that have not been done before.
The ‘History Centre’ is expected to open as the flagship building for Plymouth's Mayflower 400 commemorations in 2020. The vision is to have the following themes:
·         Rooms which celebrate the Plymouth individuals who were influential on the world stage such as Sir Francis Drake and Scott of the Antarctic.
·         The city’s relationship with the Royal Navy both past and present
·         Plymouth’s part in the sailing of the Mayflower to America 400 years ago
·         Life below the water to include marine life and shipwrecks
·         Exhibition space to celebrate Plymouth’s prehistoric landscape
·         Galleries highlighting the west country’s artistic legacy to include Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Cottonian Collection and the Newlyn Artists
The PCC are currently in the Development Phase - an intense period of planning and consulting. While there may not be much to see while all this preparation is taking place behind the scenes, this is an exciting time for everyone involved and is the period during which the final concepts and ideas for the ‘History Centre’ will be firmed up.
What will it look like? What will it contain? How will people use it? How will they interact with it? What do us the Friends and the PCC want it to achieve? These are the questions we are currently considering . We see it as starting a journey when entering the front door.
A considerable amount of work has already taken place. Staff from the partner organisations have been seeking advice and knowledge from other cities and cultural centres as well as looking at best practice and good working models. The main partner organisations are SWFTA (South West Film & TV Archive), SWIB (South West Image Bank), the Library Archives and the PWDRO (Plymouth & West Devon Record Office). These organisations are spread around the city at present and the idea is to bring them all together in one place. SWFTA is down the side of the Treasury Restaurant, Catherine Street; SWIB is housed at 25 Parade, Barbican; PWDRO is based in Clare Place, Cattedown.
Work is now being carried out with world renowned consultants on the design, content and organisational development aspects of the project. At various stages throughout this process they will also be consulting with the Friends and the wider public to seek their opinions and test out ideas. The Development Phase will continue until the building work begins in late 2016/early 2017.
The most recent milestone was the Mid Stage Review with the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Project leaders took a series of detailed reports to a meeting with HLF, all of which contained the latest thinking and designs for the ‘History Centre’.
The meeting was positive and the team were congratulated on the quality of the submissions with a very positive letter. So they are progressing well where the HLF are concerned, and should be ready to put in their second application in April 2016.
The Mid Stage Review does not involve a formal sign off, but it does mean that the HLF are very happy for PCC to continue with their Development Phase.
Later this autumn they will be revealing where they have got to with the design work to the Friends, the public and all of their associated partners. This will be the first time they will share their vision in detail with the public.

The History Centre story so far...

The vision of an International History Centre in Plymouth was born from a need to protect and safeguard the future of some of Plymouth's most valued archives and historic collections. These include the archives at Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, collections at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery (currently only 5 per cent of the museum's fantastic collections are on display) and Plymouth Local Studies Library Collection.

The inclusion of films from the South West Film and TV Archives and images from the South West Image Bank, presented the partners with a unique opportunity to create something truly special.

• An accessible archive available for research by students and families wishing to study the history of the area and its people
• A museum and its collections reaching out to the world through telling stories about Plymouth's past, present and future
• A location for contemporary art exhibitions and events
• A major new tourism attraction

In May 2014, the partners were successful with their bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £12.8 million.

In October 2014, Atkins, one of the World's leading design, engineering and project management firms were appointed to oversee the technical and architectural design for the centre.

The History Centre is now in its development phase. Detailed plans are currently being prepared that will be resubmitted to the HLF in April 2016.

The new History Centre will provide 4,310sq.m. of refurbished space in the existing Grade II listed museum and library building, plus St Luke's Church in Tavistock Place.

It will also include 2,676 sq. m. of space in a new extension to the rear of the library building. This will mean much bigger and better exhibition areas and fantastic facilities for the visiting public, including study spaces for students and leisure facilities for visitors.