Issue - meetings

The conservatory of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, which is a Grade 2* listed building, is in desperate need of repair and renewal and at the point of collapse.  The cost of repair has been estimated at c. £120,000 plus fees. Plans were made in 2011 to repair the conservatory but the Council was unable to afford the cost and the work was never done.

From 2015, the Museum has been raising funds specifically to fund the repair and renewal of the Conservatory and been identifying additional sources of funds that could enable the work to be undertaken.

These funds have been held in a restricted fund for the purpose of restoring the conservatory and now amount to £29,953.

Arts Council England (ACE) has established a new grant fund in June 2021 – the MEND fund – specifically to address the backlog of urgent repairs needed in the Museum sector.   Russell-Cotes has applied for £974,000 of work, has passed the EOI stage and is making a formal application on 18 October.

Its application includes the complete restoration of the Conservatory and it has identified £30,000 as necessary match funding from the restricted Conservatory fund to support the project (as well as £426,000 from BCP Council (subject to Cabinet approval).

The outcome of the application to the ACE MEND fund will be heard in Feb 2022 and work will start by 25 April 2022 for completion by 31 March 2025.

The Museum Manager presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Committee were asked to approve the allocation of funds generated for the restoration of the Russell-Cotes Conservatory to the ACE MEND 'Repair and Renewal' Project.

The Committee passed on their congratulations to the Team for a successful funding application, which was very welcome. 

RESOLVED that the RCAGM Committee agreed to the allocation of all funds raised to support the restoration of the Conservatory (£30,000) and held in the Restricted Conservatory fund as match funding for the ACE MEND project (should the grant application be successful).

Voting: Unanimous