New plans have been revealed to secure funding for the multi-million pound redevelopment of Paisley Museum.

The refreshed proposals reduce the overall cost of the project down to £42 million from £49 million yet still retain the original vision of the development.

Councillors will next week be asked to approve a new approach to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £4.9m for the project. A previous approach to the HLF for £10m was turned down.

The revamp includes an extension to the existing Victorian-era building, creating extra space for internationally-significant exhibits including the world's largest collection of Paisley shawls.

In addition, the new plans contain the same project timeline; the museum would close in summer 2018 and reopen in 2022 while work will involve the local community in creating content for the new museum.


With £24.1m already set aside for the scheme by the council, the project forms part of Paisley's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.

The revamp also links in to other investment projects in the town. Work is currently underway on £3.7m plans to create a publicly-accessible museum store on the town's high street, to house items not on display in the main museum, and is due to be complete by end 2017.

Construction is also to start on a new learning and cultural hub in a vacant high-street unit, creating a new modern and accessible facility and allowing the town's lending library to move from its current home next to the museum.

Council Leader Iain Nicolson said: "Our revised plans for Paisley Museum retain our ambition of an international-class museum for Renfrewshire.

"While we are disappointed the previous application to HLF was not a success, the feedback made clear the application was of high quality and had no weaknesses.

"In the end we were extremely unlucky to miss out in an unusually-competitive round of funding at a time where available money was very tight.

"However the important point is we now have a viable set of refreshed funding plans which can still deliver a project meeting the original aims.

"The museum project is one of several which will help bring new life and footfall into our town centres - helping create a new type of town centre economy and boosting local trade, while also capitalising on everything Renfrewshire has to offer and making the area a key destination for heritage tourism."

(LM)