The interior of the 140-year-old museum during a gigantic renovation

Exclusive photos have provided a glimpse into the mammoth renovation project of the 140-year-old museum, which has been closed for two years.

Ipswich Museum closed in October 2022 for an £11.4m upgrade.

Work is progressing and opening is expected in late 2025 or early 2026.

The BBC looked inside the High Street building to see how work is progressing ahead of its opening in just over a year.

The museum, which is owned by Ipswich City Council, was in need of refurbishment.

Dating back to 1881, all galleries in the museum will be modernized.

Alison Hall, the museum’s director, said there was already a “world of difference” from the moment work began.

“It was usually full of all kinds of taxidermy, exploring the local landscape, and some creatures from different continents,” she said, standing in the central Victorian natural history gallery.

“There is a lot of work in progress at the moment. There is a lot of work going on around us.

“It’s very exciting. We have been waiting for this project for a really long time.”

Ms. Hall explained that at the beginning, much of the process involved removing artifacts.

The museum’s total collection numbers approximately 200,000 items.

While not everything is on display, the museum team still had several thousand items they had to remove.

“There are a few things that had to be left in place because they are a little too big to move,” Ms. Hall continued.

“We had small things that would fit into a small box, all the way up to incredibly heavy Egyptian sculptures that required specialist moving companies.

“So it was a huge task.

“Even before we started decanting, we spent many months auditing the collection, so we knew exactly what was on display, where it was, and we had planned where everything would be stored.”

Beloved items, such as the stuffed mammoth known as Wool-I-Am, were left in the building and covered to avoid damage.

The mammoth replica was created in the 1980s to complement a display of actual remains found in the Ipswich area.

The species is believed to have lived in the area as long as 11,500 years ago.

Many historic properties required customized packaging, and teams had to be especially careful.

Once construction is complete, the team will need to bring in the components, which Ms Hall said will require a “huge amount of work”.

“This is an incredibly exciting project and we hope it will create a museum that everyone will love for generations to come,” she added.

The cost of the project has been a topic of discussion for years.

The work was initially expected to cost £8.7 million, with around half of that amount covered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Earlier this year it was revealed that costs had been £2.7m over budget, which the council said was due to inflation and supply chain disruptions.

However, further lottery funds as well as local government money were used to cover the increased costs.

There was uncertainty about the reopening date.

Carole Jones, Labor councilor and portfolio holder for planning and museums, said she hoped the museum would reopen in late 2025 or early 2026.

“It may take until early 2026 because obviously we want to do it right, we don’t want to cut corners to meet the deadline because this is a really valuable and important building,” she explained.

“This is a once-in-a-generation event.

“It’s a huge project for Ipswich, for this great history museum, and when it’s ready people will love it.”

Ipswich-based Gipping Construction received the award for its design work, which contract manager Steve Offord described as “an honour”.

“We have done museums before, but this is a very unique building,” he said.

“It’s an honor to work on this project. It’s a big building and a big project for the council.

“We operate locally, so it is an honor to cooperate with the authorities again and build a prestigious building for them.”

He explained that most of the work went smoothly, but there were minor disruptions due to the age of the building.

“As always, when you take things apart, you always discover things that no one expects, and the design team and I work together to solve them,” he added.

According to Offord, the museum will undergo numerous upgrades, from electrical wiring to heating, to make it “more comfortable and modern.”

There will also be a new cafe, terrace and new toilets.

“We are carrying out a solid metamorphosis (of the museum),” he continued.

“I was a little tired and needed a good change… a good refreshment.”

The entire team was positive that once completed, the work would help encourage young generations of future generations to come and learn about the past at a historic site.

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