Focus completes project management role at Grade I listed hall

Kelmarsh Hall

A previously inaccessible area of a Grade I listed hall is being opened to the public following a conservation project which has been managed by Focus Consultants.

The scheme at Kelmarsh Hall and Gardens in Northamptonshire - entitled ‘Tunnelling through the Past’ - has conserved the former stable yard, laundries and the servants’ areas in the basement of the house.

Thanks to a £1.3 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and funding from Daventry District Council grant scheme, along with the charity’s own fundraising efforts, the history of the lives of the servants at the hall will now be showcased to visitors.

Nottingham-based Focus Consultants, which specialises in delivering high quality heritage projects across the UK, has been involved with the project from the end of 2015 until completion, undertaking a project management role.

Project manager at Focus Jo Hardwicke said: “The main opening of this exciting new interactive visitor experience will be on 1^st April 2018, when the hall reopens to the general public, but there will be an exclusive preview of the spaces next month as part of the National Lottery ‘Thank You’ week to lottery players, when Kelmarsh Hall holds a Christmas Fair on 17^th December.

“As a company, Focus has wide experience of conservation, restoration and other projects within the heritage sector, and we have been thrilled to have played a role in conserving and opening up these previously inaccessible areas at Kelmarsh Hall to give the public a glimpse into the history of the servants who lived behind the scenes at this wonderful hall.”

Currently just the main living spaces in the grand Grade I listed hall are open to visitors, and guided tours provide in-depth insight into the history of its famed past residents, such as designer Nancy Lancaster. But following the conservation project, undertaken by contractor Stone Edge, and after the introduction of the latest technologies, a full sensory experience of what life was like for those who formerly worked and lived at the property will be available. Tablet devices will help visitors to interpret the rooms in detail, whilst augmented reality will bring the spaces to life with period characters appearing to tell their story.

Lesley Denton, general manager for the Kelmarsh Trust said: “The conservation of the laundry and basement which are connected by a fantastically preserved tunnel has been a long road. It has been over six years from my first meeting with the HLF to the handover of the capital works by Stone Edge. The Kelmarsh Trust has been so fortunate to work with each and every one of the professionals involved, from our accountants and architects to the designers and interpretation experts. However, none of it would have been dealt with so professionally if we had not appointed Focus Consultants as our project managers. Jo and Steve have ensured we got where we are today by solving the problems, and there have been some, in a reassuring and effective manner. I cannot thank them enough.”

Focus, which has its headquarters at Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, and branches in London, Leicester and Boston in Lincolnshire, offers a range of services, which include securing funding packages and project management. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful companies of its kind.

Focus also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

London church appointment for Focus Consultants

St Marylebone Church

Focus Consultants has been appointed to project manage a plan for a major restoration at one of London’s historic churches.

The Parish Church of St Marylebone, home to the internationally respected Healing and Counselling Centre and innovative NHS Marylebone Health Centre, has been awarded initial support of £700,000 from The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to develop proposals for the £8.6m restoration of the church and the renewal of community facilities. 

The historical Grade I listed London landmark has appointed Focus Consultants as project directors and project managers.  

The scheme is set to include new building work adjoined to the current structure to include a welcome and reception area, additional exhibition space and a café for visitors. In addition to this, extensive repairs and conservation efforts are expected to take place on the existing building. 

Focus Consultants partner Ellie Clarke said: “St Marylebone Church is an important building in London and the team at Focus is very pleased to have been appointed to help with the development in the next chapter of its history.

“We have significant experience of working on such projects and are looking forward to project managing these inspiring proposals.”

Constructed in 1817, the Anglican church located on the Marylebone Road is the third building used for the parish church in the borough’s 900-year-old history. The present church was the venue for the wedding of Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett and the baptism of Charles Dickens’ son. In the 1980s, the Parish took a huge leap in converting the unusable crypts of the church to create a range of complementary facilities for community uses.  

The Rector of St Marylebone, The Revd Canon Stephen Evans, commented: “The regeneration will allow the parish to become a Community Hub which will tell the story of St Marylebone "the great city north of Oxford Street".

The Rector and Parochial Church Council will be partnering the Church Army’s Marylebone Project in providing a Community Café, staffed by women who would otherwise be homeless, Vital Regeneration, an innovative community enterprise project based in Church Street, one of Westminster’s most deprived areas, working with local young people who are not in employment or education, the Building Crafts College in Stratford (which was founded in and had its premises in Marylebone for nearly 100 years) and a host of other individuals and agencies. 

The Changing Lives project will lead to a more sustainable future for the church - creating a vibrant, welcoming hub and enabling visitors to learn more about the heritage of the church and the wider Marylebone area. 

The Focus team is currently working to develop the bid ready for submission to the HLF in Summer 2018. The project is expected to be completed in 2020. 

Focus, which is based in Nottingham, has offices in London, Leicester and Boston in Lincolnshire. This project is being led by the London office. The company has, since 1994, secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

National Justice Museum role for J Tomlinson

National Justice Museum, Nottingham, refurbished by J Tomlinson

The refurbishment team at J Tomlinson has helped to open a new chapter in the life of one of Nottingham’s most loved historic buildings which has become a centre of national significance.

The company played a role in the £1 million redevelopment of the former Galleries of Justice, now known as the National Justice Museum.

The former courthouse and gaol, which houses the UK’s largest collection of over 40,000 law, justice, crime, and punishment artefacts, recently underwent a transformation thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) support.  

Nottingham-based J Tomlinson, which has more than 60 years’ experience of heritage project work on listed buildings, museums and historic landmark buildings, completed key parts of the redevelopment, refurbishment and redecoration.

J Tomlinson construction director Pete Woods, who heads up the refurbishment team, said: “Each refurbishment or restoration contract we undertake is unique but to be involved in a heritage project in our home city, in a venue which is so well known and well regarded locally, was an honour for the J Tomlinson team.

“Our work at the new National Justice Museum ranged from relocating a set of old heavy gallows trap doors, originally from Wandsworth prison, and a heavy protective glass cover, down two floors and setting into the floor for display purposes through to the redecoration of the stunning Victorian court room and Shire Hall, as well as the former gaol cells in the cellar and basement, and the installation of track lighting.”

It was the latest heritage refurbishment project for Beeston-based J Tomlinson, which works primarily throughout the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire, and follows on from schemes such as the refurbishment of the 12^th Century Old Grammar School in Coventry. 

The National Justice Museum is not only attracting visitors from across the country, but it has also become an educational resource of national importance. It includes new areas to display a wider selection of archive items, features an increased number of interactive displays, a new crime gallery featuring free exhibitions, plus even more fun, family friendly activities. 

Some of the most well-known items at the National Justice Museum include playwright Oscar Wilde’s cell door, force-feeding equipment used on Suffragettes and conscientious objectors, Great Train Robbery evidence and the dock from Bow Street Magistrates Court, which was used in notorious cases such as the trials of Oscar Wilde, Roger Casement and the Krays.

Tim Desmond, Chief Executive of the National Justice Museum, which is based on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, said: “The refurbishment of a Georgian Prison has to be a massive challenge for anyone and I have to say the team at J Tomlinson were excellent, working within the limitation of budget and timescales. They really have taken our museum into the 21^st century and helped us become the first national museum in Nottingham.”

Jonathan Platt, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said: “This transformation of the National Justice Museum will allow a much wider audience to explore the fascinating history of law, justice, crime, and punishment, and will create a nationally important cultural destination for Nottingham. We are delighted that, thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to support this project.”

In addition to the support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the transformation has also been made possible by support from WREN, Charles Hayward Foundation, Museum Development East Midlands, Big Lottery Fund: Awards for All, Arts Council England, Jones 1986 Charitable Trust, JN Derbyshire Charitable Trust, and the Forman Hardy Charitable Trust.

For more information about J Tomlinson, visit www.jtomlinson.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Focus Consultants project manages Gilbert White and The Oates Museum redevelopment

Gilbert White's House

After supporting a successful Round 2 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid in Spring 2016, Focus Consultants are pleased to announce that the renovation of the museum housing The Gilbert White and the Oates Collections in Selborne, Hampshire, has begun construction. Focus were appointed to project manage the £2.5 million redevelopment of the 17^th Century Grade II Listed house by the Gilbert White & The Oates Collections Trust (GWOC). 

The redevelopment work consists of the restoration of the stable yard and brew house, providing a new entrance, a shop and a café for visitors, as well as the conversion of the upstairs into a lettable flat. Additionally, the work includes the general refurbishment and reconfiguration of the layout to the main house, which will allow new exhibitions to be created, a new library, and which will increase the space to show more artefacts than ever before, many of which will be on display for the first time, including one of the few surviving original copies of “Aurora Australis”, the first book to be written, printed and bound in Antarctica. 

Once the home to naturalist Gilbert White, often regarded as the father of ecology, the museum, which offers educational and family orientated events throughout the year, boasts an extensive range of well-maintained gardens, which acted as a research base inspiring White’s most popular work The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, one of the most printed works of literature in the English language. 

The house, named The Wakes became a museum in 1954 when Robert Washington Oates secured the home as a memorial to the naturalist. Here he also established The Oates Memorial Museum and Library in honour of his cousin Captain Lawrence Oates, who was part of the fatal ‘Terra Nova’ expedition to the South Pole, and his uncle Frank Oates, famed explorer and one of the first Europeans to reach Victoria Falls.

The added exhibition space will allow the museum to take visitors on a journey through the exploration of the natural world, in particular linking to the three men. 

“It is always gratifying to be a part of a project like this, and the vision the Gilbert White & The Oates Collections Trust have for the museum is inspiring,” said Focus project manager Dan Mason. “I am confident the work the team is doing here will pay homage to the house’s fascinating history.”

The renovation is due to be completed and open to the public in Spring 2018.

Nottingham-based Focus Consultants, which also has branches in London, Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, has, since 1994, secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Focus Consultants appointed project manager on Tatton Park scheme

Tatton Park farm entrance

Heritage experts at Focus Consultants have been appointed to help drive forward a project to showcase the history of farming and its relevance to healthy eating today at one of the UK’s most well-known country estates.

Tatton Dale Farm in Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire, has received £1 million Heritage Lottery funding to develop a scheme to tell the story of food production for a large country estate from the late 18^th century to the 1950s. 

The project aims to bring alive the agricultural, architectural, technological, social and cultural heritage of Tatton Dale Farm through the ‘field to fork’ story - told through the mouths of former workers, its buildings, machinery, livestock and traditional agricultural skills.

It includes a new visitor hub at the farm’s agricultural mill building, as well as a number of site-wide hands-on experiences.

Focus Consultants, which has worked on a wide range of heritage and museum-related schemes across the UK, has been appointed to project manage the overall development alongside Cheshire East Council, which manages and finances Tatton Park on behalf of the National Trust.

Focus partner Steven Fletcher said: “Tatton Park is one of the UK’s most complete historic estates, and the team at Focus Consultants is very pleased to have been appointed to help develop the ‘field to fork’ story of the estate’s farm so that its story can be shared with future generations.

“We have extensive expertise in developing heritage attractions and are proud to be a part of the team providing a fascinating and enjoyable exploration of this uniquely well-preserved window into farming and food production at Tatton Park over two centuries.”

Focus, which is based in Nottingham and also has branches in London, Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, has been involved in numerous heritage schemes, including at many London museums, as well as at the National Museum Wales, MShed in Bristol, SeaCity in Southampton, and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 

Carole Mullineux, Tatton Park business development manager, said: “We’re delighted that Focus Consultants is part of our team. The ‘field to fork’ project is an exciting new initiative for us which will give us the opportunity to attract new visitors, protect Tatton’s heritage assets and ultimately realise the farm’s potential.”

Meanwhile, Cllr George Walton, chairman of the Tatton Park board, said: “This is an extremely important educational addition to the park and we look forward to working with Focus Consultants who will drive this forward.

“They have considerable experience in heritage projects of this nature and the ‘field to fork’ story will complement the many other attractions that combine to make Tatton Park one of the best visitor attractions in Britain.”

As well as providing skills in heritage development, Focus also specialises in funding and economic development including area regeneration strategies, funding applications, economic impact appraisals, business plans, and research and evaluation. Since 1994 Focus has also secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Grants available to breathe new life into historic buildings, reminds Focus Consultants

Focus Partner Heather Frecklington

Hundreds of neglected historic buildings across the East Midlands could qualify for special grants to help bring them back into life.

That’s the view of funding experts at Focus Consultants, which has successfully secured more than £953 million in various grants and funds for projects over the past 21 years.

Partner Heather Frecklington is reminding community organisations that Heritage Enterprise funding is available to help with some of the costs to repair derelict historic places, which could be the key to giving them productive new uses.

She is urging groups to look around their villages, towns and cities with a fresh pair of eyes and consider whether developments could become commercially viable if they received a cash injection via Heritage Enterprise, which is operated by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

“For many property owners, owning a historic building requires a great deal of investment, firstly potentially restoring those buildings and secondly keeping them in good repair,” said Heather. “The cost of repairing a neglected historic building is often so high that restoration simply isn’t commercially viable. The aim of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Heritage Enterprise programme is to make such schemes possible by funding some of the repair costs with grants of £100,000 to £5 million available.”

Nottingham-based Focus, which also has branches in London and Leicester, and in Aubourn and Boston in Lincolnshire, has been involved in a number of successful Heritage Enterprise bids and is currently advising several clients on their applications.

“The fund is primarily for enterprising community organisations to help them rescue neglected historic buildings and sites and return them to a viable productive use,” said Heather. “It is designed to bridge the funding gap that prevents an historic asset in need of repair from being returned to a beneficial and commercial use. The case for grant funding will depend on there being a conservation deficit. This is where the existing value of a heritage asset plus the cost of bringing it back into use is greater than the value of the asset after development has been completed.”

Focus specialises in funding and economic development including area regeneration strategies, funding applications, economic impact appraisals, business plans, and research and evaluation. Since 1994 Focus has also secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

Museum appointment for Focus Consultants

Gilbert White's house

Experts at Focus Consultants have been appointed to project manage the redevelopment of Gilbert White & The Oates Collections after supporting a successful Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid to help fund the work.

The company project managed the development of the Round 2 HLF application for the scheme which is planned for the home of the Rev. Gilbert White, the eighteenth century naturalist and ornithologist who is widely regarded as being the first ecologist. The museum also plays host to the collections of two other explorers, Frank Oates and Lawrence Oates.

Hidden treasures, held for years in the archives of Gilbert White & The Oates Collections in Selborne, Hampshire, will become accessible to the public for the first time following the £1.687m grant from the HLF for the redevelopment of the museum. The award will be matched by almost £1m raised by the museum from other sources.

Now, Nottingham-based Focus Consultants has also been retained as project manager for the ongoing delivery of the scheme, which will restore Gilbert White’s stable yard and brew-house, providing a new entrance for visitors. Major improvements will be made to the museum increasing the display space to show more artefacts than ever before.

“This is a great moment for us – the culmination of years of planning and hard work,” said Dr Rosemary Irwin, Chairman of Trustees at the museum. “At long last visitors will be able to see some of the wonderful treasures we hold.”

Among the treasures to be made available to the public for the first time is one of the few surviving original copies of “Aurora Australis”, the first book to be written, printed, illustrated and bound in Antarctica. It was produced by a team working under Ernest Shackleton, leader of the 1907-09 Nimrod Expedition. Worried that his team might be ‘bored’ during the long Antarctic winter, Shackleton took with him a printing press and encouraged his colleagues to write articles for the book which was then printed and bound in boards made from used packing cases. Only around 70 copies of this extraordinary book were produced – the Queen and the British Library are among the others to have copies.

The Gilbert White’s House is the latest in a long line of heritage sites that funding and development experts at Focus Consultants have successfully supported in their bid applications to the HLF.

Partner Steven Fletcher said: “It is great news that the Heritage Lottery Fund is to support the development at the museum which will enable it to work towards achieving long-term financial sustainability, whilst preserving the estate. The Rev. Gilbert White is world renowned for his contributions to the literature of natural history, and Focus Consultants is delighted to be playing a part in helping to preserve this site and his legacy for generations to come. We are looking forward to project managing the scheme, as it moves forward.”

Focus, which is based at Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, with offices in London, Leicester and Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful companies of its kind.

The museum project, which is currently seeking planning consent and will be completed in the Spring of 2018, has also received substantial support, in the form of finance and architectural services, from Hampshire County Council, with donations also coming from numerous major trusts and foundations. Support has also been received from long-term supporters of the museum, such as the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Press release issued by Nottingham based pr company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

Time to move forward for British Horological Institute plan

A team of experts has been assembled to spearhead the creation of a national Centre for Horology at Upton Hall, near Newark.

Last October it was announced that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) had earmarked a £2.8 million grant for the BHI to develop a new centre of excellence to help train the next generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK.

The project – known as Saving Time - is the first phase of an £8.5 million masterplan that Nottingham-based funding, economic development and project management specialist Focus Consultants has developed for the site.

Now a team has been appointed to progress plans, produce a fully costed proposal, apply for planning permission, and submit a second round application to the HLF before the earmarked grant can be released.

“I am delighted that we have now appointed a team of experts to support the British Horological Institute as we move into the next phase of making our plans a reality,” said Dudley Giles, chief executive officer of the BHI. “Work on Saving Time is now in full swing.”

The team appointed by the BHI includes Focus Consultants as project manager, bid planner and quantity surveyor, Newark-based Guy Taylor Associates as architects, Newark-based William Saunders as civil and structural engineer, and Hertfordshire-based mechanical and electrical engineers SVM. Other members of the team are activity planners Oakmere Solutions Ltd based in Ipswich and Cambridge, access consultants Jane Toplis Associates, from Bath, fundraising consultants Judith Egerton and Nancy Chambers, from Gloucestershire, and Swinton-based exhibition designer PLB.

“This is the next stage in the process of securing the grant from the HLF,” said Focus partner Kevin Osbon. “Focus and architects Guy Taylor Associates have been involved in the long-term planning of the scheme right from the start and for around three years now, so we’re really pleased to be part of the team going forward, along with a number of other professionals who have expertise in developing exciting and innovative projects like the one being undertaken at Upton Hall.”

The realisation of the masterplan will eventually see the refurbishment of Upton Hall – a Grade II* listed building, which is included in the Heritage at Risk register kept by Historic England.

The BHI priority in the masterplan is training and education. This is to address the UK-wide shortage of horologists by creating new training and workshop facilities, allowing the BHI to double the number of students it trains over the coming years.

The facilities created during Saving Time include new clock and watch workshop spaces in a former stable block and glasshouse adjacent to Upton Hall. Saving Time will also include the refurbishment of the ground floor of the west wing of Upton Hall.

Focus, which also has offices in London, Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful companies of its kind.

For more information visit www.focus-consultants.com 

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Time to celebrate for Focus Consultants

Kevin Osbon at the British Horological Institute

Funding, economic development and project management specialist Focus Consultants is celebrating the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has earmarked a £2.8 million grant for the British Horological Institute (BHI).

Focus developed the HLF bid for the BHI, which plans to create a National Centre for Horology at its Upton Hall base, near Newark in Nottinghamshire, to help train a new generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK.

The project is the first phase of an £8.5 million Masterplan that Focus has developed for the site.

Dudley Giles, Chief Executive Officer of the BHI, praised the work of Nottingham-based Focus Consultants, which also has offices in London, Leicester and at Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire.

“The team at Focus Consultants has been great – we literally couldn’t have done it without them. Their advice and guidance has been spot on and we really feel that they are part of the BHI team, helping us to take the project and the Masterplan through to completion,” he said.

Focus Consultants Partner Kevin Osbon, who lives just two miles from Upton Hall, led the creation of the long term Masterplan for the BHI and the consequent development of the initial Phase 1 'Saving Time' project which has secured the HLF award.

He said: “I have been working on this project personally since August 2013 and the team at Focus Consultants have worked closely with the BHI to create a long term sustainable solution for the Upton Hall estate and secure their future as one of the leading horological training establishments in the world. I am delighted to hear that the HLF bid has been successful.

“Focus works with organisations and attractions across the UK, but the BHI is a close neighbour, being based in Nottinghamshire, and members of the Focus team are really looking forward to working with the BHI team to deliver phase 1 and then the overall Masterplan 'over time'.”

The BHI – a membership organisation for people who make, repair, collect and sell clocks, watches and other timepieces – plans to open the new centre in 2018 to address the nationwide shortage of horologists by creating new training and workshop facilities in a derelict stable block and glass house, allowing the BHI to double the number of students it trains a year.

Historic England has included Upton Hall – a Grade II* listed building – in its 2015 Heritage at Risk Register.

HLF has earmarked £2,852,600 for the project including a Development Grant of £160,300, which the BHI will use to progress plans, produce a fully costed proposal, apply for planning permission, and submit a second round application, when the full grant amount will be released.

The centre will be open daily and the public will be able to view students at work and visit exhibitions with key pieces from the BHI collection, which includes clocks going back to the 17th century, watches such as the timepiece carried by Captain Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic, and the first two Speaking Clocks.

The historic main building at Upton Hall will also be developed and access to the collection will increase significantly with volunteer support and extended opening hours. The centre anticipates thousands of visitors annually, including hundreds of schoolchildren for whom special education areas will be set up. Collected from 1858, there are currently over a thousand artefacts on display and stored in the reserve collection of the BHI, and as such it is unrivalled in the UK but currently only open for public view three times a year.

Sir Peter Luff, Chair of HLF, said: “From Big Ben and the Liver Building to the pocket watches and timepieces carried by great explorers, clocks and clockmaking have a long and proud history in the UK. Even as demand for these traditional skills rises, the number of people trained has gone into steep decline. That is why we saw a pressing need for this National Lottery investment which will ensure timepieces are made, serviced, repaired and conserved in this country for many years to come.”

Emma McClarkin, an East Midlands MEP with a portfolio on international trade, said: “It is well known that there is a dire shortage of training opportunities for watch and clockmakers around the world, particularly in Europe. The BHI already has an international reputation and links with our local universities. Now the creation of the National Centre for Horology sets the Institute on course to address the horology skill shortage, making sure that our watch and clockmaking expertise is passed on from generation to generation, just like our magnificent timepieces.”

Focus specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes.

http://www.focus-consultants.com 

Press release issued by Nottingham based pr company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk