railways – Industrial Heritage Networks

A pioneering partnership between the Science and Industry museum Manchester and the Landmark Trust will see the Station Agent’s House made available for overnight stay for up to eight people, alongside free public open days. This is one of Manchester’s oldest surviving Georgian houses, and adjoins the Museum’s Grade I listed 1830 Station.

The Station Agent’s House will be the Landmark Trust’s first property in the region, and will join a collection of 200 historic buildings once completed. A final £118,000 is needed to meet the costs of the repair and conversion work, which will include an improved environmental performance through the installation of heat pumps.

The building, on the corner of Liverpool Road and Water Street in Castlefield, was built in 1808 for John Rothwell, partner in a nearby dyeworks. The house then provided accommodation for the Station Agent at Liverpool Road Station before being converted for shop use in the mid 20th century. More recently, the former residential house was used as offices when the Science and Industry Museum opened on the site in 1983. The shop frontage was removed, and a replica of the historic doorway was reinstated. The adjacent 1830 Station is currently being repaired ahead of re-opening to the public in future years as part of the museum’s major conservation and redevelopment plans.

Sally MacDonald, Director of the Science and Industry Museum said “We are delighted that the Landmark Trust will be bringing their expertise in sensitively restoring incredible heritage buildings to enable Station Agent’s House to be experienced by the public for the first time.”

Anna Keay, Director of The Landmark Trust, said the Station Agent’s House “is an outstanding piece of industrial heritage. The building will be sensitively repaired and made available to all through self-catering stays and free public open days. As a charity, the Landmark Trust is committed to saving and sustaining outstanding heritage, and is thrilled to be playing a role in Manchester.’

The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester has received a £3million donation from The Law Family Charitable Foundation to fund the future of its iconic Power Hall gallery. The donation, the museum’s largest philanthropic gift to date, will support the gallery’s regeneration.

In recognition of The Law Family Charitable Foundation’s generosity and the significant benefit it will have for visitors, the gallery will be known as the Power Hall: The Law Family Gallery, when it reopens to the public in 2024. The Grade II listed Power Hall building was built in 1855 as the transhipment shed for Liverpool Road Station, the world’s first purpose-built intercity passenger railway station. It houses one of the UK’s largest collections of working stationary steam engines, most of them built in Manchester.

The gift is in addition to the £4.3 million given by the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to transform the whole museum’s environmental sustainability and place zero carbon technology at the heart of the museum’s visitor experience. £2.6 million from that grant will enable the Power Hall (currently undergoing urgent restoration thanks to £6 million from the DCMS) to reduce C02 emissions by 60% by 2030 through enhanced roof insulation and glazing to improve energy efficiency, an electric boiler and water source heat pumps to heat the space and power the historic engines sustainably, and a new building management system to monitor and control energy use of this iconic gallery.

Further details here: https://www.scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk/about-us/we-are-changing/power-hall

Tag: railways

Science and Industry Museum Manchester Partners with Landmark Trust to Create Heritage Holiday Home

Science & Industry Museum Manchester Receives £3 Million Donation