Proposals to ‘enhance’ Birmingham’s flagship museum take ‘crucial’ step forward

Proposals to fully reopen and “enhance” Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as a “cultural cornerstone of the city” have taken a step forward. The museum, next to Birmingham's Council House, closed in 2020 for essential maintenance works but partially reopened in 2022 for the Commonwealth Games.

The museum and art gallery (BMAG) then reopened in phases this year - but the majority of spaces in the attraction are still not in use. Birmingham City Council is now considering an ambitious project to fully reopen the museum, with a report saying previous repairs and maintenance “highlighted the need” for essential refurbishment works.

These would need to be undertaken to enable a full reopening, according to the report. Cabinet members at the council agreed on Tuesday, November 12, to submit a ‘stage one’ bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund of £9m, which would go towards a total project in the sum of around £10m.

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This could help support a full reopening and provide an opportunity to “reimagine and redisplay the museum so it is of relevance to contemporary audiences”. On the works which were needed, the report said redisplaying and reopening BMAG had become more complicated than “simply moving the collections back into the building and reinstating previous displays".

It said: “While the electrical and essential remedial works addressed infrastructure repairs, many galleries have not had investment in their fabric for 20 to 50 years and the electrical rewiring works have revealed new challenges". These included dilapidations to gallery walls, ceilings and floors, the report continued.

“In some behind-the-scenes examples, the collections storage and facilities used by staff and volunteers are in an even poorer state of repair,” it added. Coun Saima Suleman, cabinet member for culture, told the meeting yesterday: “Addressing these issues now is not only necessary to protect our cultural heritage but also to prevent further financial pressure on the council.

“Since the closure of BMAG, the council has been paying £420,000 annually to Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT} to compensate for lost revenue. This arrangement will continue until BMAG is fully operational again.”

She continued: “The opportunity to apply for £9m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is crucial. It’s vital we preserve and enhance BMAG as a cultural cornerstone of our city". If the bid progresses to stage two and is successful, the final project would focus on providing a number of changes including:

• A new vision for BMAG through audience-driven displays, showing a wider range of histories, cultures and experiences about the city and its people.

• Co-produced displays and exhibitions developed in collaboration with community and cultural partners.

• 42 galleries fitted out and displayed with the city’s nationally important museum collections.

• An accessible, multi-faith room, including a designated quiet area for neurodiverse visitors.

• Essential gallery, office and toilet refurbishments.

• Refurbished tearoom and upgraded furniture.

“The outcome of the stage one application is expected to be known by April 2026 at which point a further report will be brought back to cabinet,” the report said. “If a stage two bid were to be successful (April 2027), then it is estimated that BMAG would be fully open by 2030/31.”

It concluded the proposal would mitigate future compensation claims; enable BMT to pursue greater commercial income and allow Brummies and visitors to view the collections held by the council on their behalf. The outcome of the council’s application would be brought back to cabinet to take a decision on a stage two submission within the "context of the council’s financial position at that time".