Plans lodged for £42m Paisley Museum transformation

Architect AL_A’s design features a fully accessible entrance courtyard and a dramatic red glazed entrance hall for the museum, which is on Paisley’s High Street. A new wing to the west of the existing building provides step-free access through the museum up to the Coats Observatory. There will be social and informal learning spaces and a café with views onto the new museum garden.

Amanda Levete, principal of AL_A, said: "The brief for Paisley Museum is one of the most radical I've encountered. Paisley has a proud industrial past and a history of innovation and radical thinking. We have embedded this into our design to create an extraordinary place for the community of Paisley."

The project will double the area for the display of the museum’s collection, allowing 1,200 objects to be put on show. Features will include an interactive weaving studio aimed at keeping alive the town's traditional textile skills.

Cllr Lisa-Marie Hughes, chair of Renfrewshire Leisure, said: "Few places of Paisley's size can claim such global impact - the town created a global fashion icon, was once the centre of the world's textile industry, and Paisley people have shaped the world for centuries with their creativity. The reopened museum will celebrate all of that and more, by using Paisley's outstanding collections to retell the stories of those people, and give the world a reason to come back to Paisley.

“The beautiful images revealed today show how this wonderful historic building will at once be preserved and modernised, and ensure this proud symbol of Paisley's past is at the heart of its future."

Professor John Hume OBE, former chair of the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments Scotland, said: "I am thoroughly impressed by the thoughtful and sensitive approach of the architects to a remarkable group of buildings in a critical location for this unique place.

The aim is for the museum to reopen in 2022 following the £42m transformation. The project is expect to support 138 jobs during construction.

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