Poole Museum and Scaplen's Court

The buildings required a careful and sympathetic approach to conservation while also providing full access and improved visitor circulation. Areas of the buildings had been underutilised, and the renovation removed additions that were not historically aligned, offering a substantial increase in usable space and improvement in layout.  

Museum spaces housing exhibits such as the Poole Iron Age Logboat and loans from other museums required closely controlled and monitored conditions to ensure the longevity of the artefacts. A more stable environment also served to protect the historic fabric of the buildings and to provide a comfortable environment for visitors.  

Existing ceilings were opened up to showcase historic timber joists throughout the museum, and exposed services serving the new interactive galleries were carefully designed to complement the heritage aesthetic. Bare mineral-insulated copper-clad (MICC) cable and all black electrical infrastructure, combined with exposed copper or black-clad insulated heating and cooling pipework, created a black, copper, timber and stone language throughout the Museum and Scaplens Court. The heating, cooling and ventilation plant was carefully integrated into the exhibition fit-out to be practically invisible, while ensuring correct gallery conditions and robust access for long-term maintenance

Specific site constraints and historic requirements proved challenging in finding a suitable location for the new air source heat pumps, and the team creatively located them in the historic former jail. New energy-efficient lighting and audiovisual systems were designed to enhance the exhibition spaces. Acoustic advice was provided to help with the integration of new cooling and ventilation plant without detriment to the local noise environment. 

Life safety and heritage protection were also prioritised, with arc fault detection and fire-rated cabling used throughout, with innovative battery technology used to provide backup power to both new lifts on the site.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council, Arts Council England, Historic England and several other funding streams made the renovation possible. Salix funding was used to improve the building fabric, including improved insulation, the installation of new windows, and to provide a discreet solar photovoltaic (PV) roof slates, all of which have reduced the carbon footprint of the development by 25%.