Derby Museums has secured final funding for its planned £16.4m (US$21.4m, €18.2m) Museum of Making following a £9.4m (US$12.3m, €10.5m) donation from the UK's Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The donation to the charitable trust, which represents Derby's Museum and Art Gallery, Pickford’s House and The Silk Mill, makes it the largest National Lottery-funded project in Derby’s history.

The Museum of Making at Derby Silk Mill project will see a community-led development created in collaboration with the people of Derby, looking at the region’s history and celebrating Derby’s heritage as a city of makers.

Leeds-based Bauman Lyons Associates have been named as project architects, with Huddersfield company Leach handling exhibition design. The trust says a contractor for the development will be named soon.

The museum plan has been a long time in the making, with consultations on the project starting in 2011.

More than 190 events, including workshop and activity sessions, informal drop-ins, public consultation events and volunteering opportunities have taken place, with more than 19,000 people giving their input on the project.

“When the trust took on responsibility for running Derby’s Museums in 2012 we agreed with the City Council that a top priority would be the redevelopment of the Silk Mill,” said Pat Coleman, chair of Derby Museums.

“Our wonderfully creative team of staff has achieved the funding for a more extensive and imaginative scheme than we could have hoped for and within a shorter timescale too.”

FEATURE: Interview – Tony Butler