ARCHITECTS and exhibition designers have been appointed to put together a lottery grant bid for the refurbishment of Wrexham Museum.
Occupying the former barracks of the Royal Denbighshire Militia - later the Royal Welch Fusiliers - the museum is full of fascinating artifacts from Wrexham's prehistory to the world-beating days of industrialisation and mining.
As the museum is a listed building, any refurbishment will be expensive and must be done with care.
With this in mind, the council has secured a £50,000 Project Planning Grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to appoint consultants to determine what work is needed and to submit an application for a more substantial grant.
Navyblue 3D and Austin-Smith Lord have been selected as consultants and will now begin assessing the building and planning the work.
Navyblue 3D will be responsible for the interior design work, including the new-look exhibitions and gallery displays.
The group is one of the UK's top 30 design houses and has previously designed the interior for the World of Glass at St Helens, the National Coal Mining Museum at Wakefield and the Museum of the Isles on the Isle of Skye.
Navyblue also designed and delivered the London 2012 bid documentation as part of London's bid to host the Olympic Games.
Ewan McCarthy, creative director of Navyblue 3D, said: 'The diversity of the artifacts and exhibits within the museum collections present an opportunity to apply an innovative mix of creative and technical skills to design and interpretation.'
Austin-Smith Lord has been appointed architects for the development and will work with the council to design the internal and external schemes for the museum's refurbishment.
The practice has a wealth of experience in museum and education projects and has provided the architectural and museum design services for projects such as the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon Castle, The Riverfront art gallery in Newport and the National Botanic Gardens of Wales.
'We are looking forward to ensuring the museum becomes a flagship attraction for the town,' said Chris Pritchett, partner at Austin-Smith Lord.
Wrexham's chief leisure, libraries and culture officer, Alan Watkin, said: 'I'm delighted we have come one step closer to the refurbishment of our museum.
'It is vital the council works closely with these companies to come up with exhibition designs and plans that will make the museum an appealing and attractive venue which will attract people not only from the immediate area but further afield and ensure the museum is able to better display national collections.'
