A top councillor has insisted “costs are not over-running” as he explained why Bath’s new Fashion Museum will cost £54 million.
How the proposed Fashion Museum could look | Image © B&NES Council
The project to reopen the museum in the Old Post Office on New Bond Street was previously stated to cost £37 million, but Bath MP Wera Hobhouse told the House of Commons earlier this month that Bath & North East Somerset Council was “in the process of bringing together £54 million for a new Fashion Museum in Bath.”
Now the council’s cabinet member for resources, Mark Elliott (Lansdown, Liberal Democrat), has explained the figure.
Councillor Elliott said the cost was “steady” at £54 million, and that the figure had remained the same for the last two years.
He told a meeting of the council cabinet on Thursday 12th March: “We have a strong grip on the project, the costs are not over-running, and we have solid, well-planned funding routes for the whole project.”
Giving a breakdown of the £54 million figure, he said that £8 million of that was the cost of the Old Post Office building itself.
He said this had been funded through “disposal of surplus assets”, meaning selling things the council owned, but no longer needed.
Another £7 million was the cost of “improvements to the public realm outside and around the new museum”.
The council plans to turn the end of Broad Street in front of St Michael’s Church into a new pedestrianised public square, funded by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA). Northgate Square will include spill-out seating from the new museum cafe.
The remaining £39 million will be the actual cost of renovating the Old Post Office building and converting it into an exhibition space for the collection. Two semi-permanent galleries will be located on the second and third floors of the main building, while a flexible exhibition space will be located in the 2005 extension.
The Old Post Office in Bath
The Old Post Office’s “large and welcoming foyer” will be restored to its original size, with a cafe, display cases, and access to the new museum shop. An extension along the back of the New Bond Street would be demolished to restore part of the courtyard, which once existed at the heart of the building, to be used as a new garden.
More money from WECA, along with the National Lottery, and other grants and donations, will cover almost half of the cost of the renovation — but the council itself will cover £20 million of the project through borrowing.
The profits of the Fashion Museum, once it is open, are planned to cover the cost of £17 million of that borrowing. Mr Elliott said just £3 million of the borrowing would be supported from the council’s operational budget.
He said: “To get an entirely new world-class museum, including improvements to the surrounding public realm for £54 million will be a great achievement.
“This is a project that will create a major new cultural and heritage asset for the people of Bath and North East Somerset of international importance.
“This is more than a museum: it’s a catalyst for civic pride, a driver for social and economic improvement, a major learning and skills development hub, a celebration of craftsmanship, a driver of the visitor economy, and a catalyst for the regeneration of the Milsom Quarter.”
He added: “I’m proud to be part of this Lib Dem administration that has the ambition and commitment to drive forward a project of such importance.”
A quarter of a million people per year are expected to visit the museum once it reopens in the Old Post Office. Since the museum was forced to leave its former home at the Assembly Rooms in 2022, the collection has been stored at the Wiltshire headquarters of glovemakers Dents for £150,000 a year, as it is one of the only places with the right facilities to store it.
The planning application for the new Fashion Museum was submitted in January. The target date for a decision on planning permission to be made is in April. The new museum plans to open in 2030.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
