Focus Consultants is celebrating a link with four of the top
20 free museums and galleries in the UK recommended by The Guardian newspaper.
The company has worked on many high-profile museums across
the UK, including the National
Army Museum in Chelsea and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter,
which was named UK museum of the year in 2012 by the Art Fund charity.
Now four museums that Focus has worked with or is currently
involved in have been named on a top 20 list of free family friendly museums
recommended to visit by The Guardian.
They are the V&A Museum of Childhood in London, St Fagans National History Museum in
Cardiff, Coventry Transport Museum and Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry.
Focus Consultants, which has its headquarters at Phoenix
Business Park, Nottingham, and has branches in London, Leicester, Boston and
near Lincoln, specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages.
The firm has worked to help many significant heritage, ecclesiastical, arts,
culture and leisure schemes gain grants from a range of funding sources.
Since establishing in 1994, Focus has helped to secure £1
billion worth of grant assistance
for a range of projects and businesses across the UK.
Partner at Focus Consultants, Kevin Osbon, said: “It’s great
news to see that so many of our projects have made it onto this list of
recommended museums and galleries to visit. Focus is proud to be part of the
teams that are creating such high quality destinations that are filled with
interesting and interactive activities for families.”
The firm worked for the V&A on a multi-million pound
redevelopment of the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, which houses the
V&A's national collection of childhood-related objects, including dolls'
houses, toys and games, furniture and clothing. As well as overseeing the
redevelopment, Focus also secured the funding from the European Regional
Development Fund (ERDF) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), which both made
significant contributions to the successful opening of the project in early
2007.
At St Fagans, Focus helped the project to secure £11.5
million - the largest ever grant award in Wales by the Heritage Lottery Fund -
and was then appointed project managers and cost managers for the open air
museum near Cardiff. The St Fagans project is
now out to tender with works due to start on site shortly.
Focus was strategic lead on the creation of the Herbert Art
Gallery and Museum initiative - a £12m complete redisplay of the museum and art
gallery including the creation of Coventry History Centre and the development
of a huge glazed canopy to effectively turn the building around 180 degrees… completely
changing its orientation so that it could be linked to Coventry Cathedral and
Coventry University via a major public square.
Focus is also lead consultant
on a project to create an internationally significant transport heritage
attraction by redeveloping Coventry Transport Museum, which has received
initial support for a £4.9m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and £3m
from the European Regional Development Fund. The complete redisplay of Coventry Transport
Museum is about to start on site.
The Guardian published
its list as part of the newspaper’s ‘How to see the world for free (or almost)’
series.
Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk
