We are delighted to receive the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund who have granted us a first-round pass and development funding of £494,000, towards a bid for £7.4m. The competition was tough with eleven other projects competing for funding and ultimately only five were successful.
The development funding will be used to take the project forward, including running an architectural competition with the RIBA, to develop the plans for the new facilities. This has now been launched and we are seeking Expressions of Interest from architect-led teams with exceptional design skills. More information about the competition can be found on our RIBA Competition page. The Trust will also recruit a Curator to work with the collection, developing the interpretation and activity plans with the team.
We are launching a major fundraising campaign to raise the £2.5 million required as matching funding for this bid. We will initially be making individual approaches to ask for support and will be pleased to hear from anyone is interested in this unique collection of boats and would like to make a donation or sponsor part of the project, such as the restoration of a particular boat or an aspect of the new building, docks and conservation work.
We have also had further successes with fundraising for the conservation of Osprey with an additional £30,000 from the Charles Heywood foundation and the Association of Industrial Archaeology. This will go a long way towards getting Osprey back on the water however the timetable is still dependent on the seasoning of the wood required for the restoration.
Further information about Osprey and the rest of the collection can be found under The Collection part of the site where we will also be posting updates and images on Osprey’s restoration.
Previous News Updates
Conservation Workshop Manager appointed
Grant awarded from the Headley Trust
