Paisley museum revamp receives extra £4-million

Plans to turn Paisley Museum into a showcase of the town's textile heritage have received a further £4 million of funding. The £42 million project is part of a larger investment in the Renfrewshire town to improve venues and infrastructure and originally announced during its bid for UK City of Culture 2021.

Despite losing out to Coventry in the competition, the investment is going ahead with council and lottery funding already sitting at around £30 million for the museum redevelopment. The latest funds were confirmed by Scottish Government Minister Kevin Stewart on a visit to the town on Monday.

Paisley Museum is due to close this year and reopen in 2022 once work to extend the current Victorian-era building and redesign the interior layout is carried out. Renfrewshire Council said the plans will quadruple current visitor numbers, and give the area an economic boost.

Council leader Iain Nicolson said: “We are delighted the Scottish Government has confirmed this contribution towards the £42m project to transform Paisley Museum.

“Between now and 2022 we will work with the local community to create a world-class destination showcasing Paisley's outstanding art, science and natural history collections, and globally-significant textile heritage.

“The news has come at a great time - coming as we launch Paisley Is... a new destination brand and website dedicated to selling the area as a great place to visit, live and invest.

“Paisley's bid to be UK City of Culture 2021 raised awareness of our unique story to a worldwide audience, and the museum project is central to a wider set of plans to build on that momentum and make the town one of Scotland's key visitor destinations.''

Paisley Museum is one 24 projects to benefit from funding announced through the Scottish Government's Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

Mr Stewart said: “I'm really pleased that 24 fantastic, locally-driven projects will benefit from this major injection of funding.

“Spanning the length and breadth of the country, they will help regenerate local areas, stimulate inclusive growth and create new jobs.

“The focus of the projects range from tackling social isolation, mitigating welfare cuts, providing training opportunities, creating business space and increasing tourism - to name but a few.'