A Grade I listed York building has a failing roof which requires major repairs.
The Yorkshire Museum’s building and the collection of priceless artefacts it holds are being put at “significant risk” by the problems, a report says.
Now a planning application has been submitted to City of York Council to fix the roof.
The full extent of the issue was uncovered after the Yorkshire Museum’s owner, the York Museums Trust, commissioned a survey.
“This survey confirmed that the current roof is failing due to an inadequate rainwater management arrangement that has developed through historic alterations of the building,” says a statement prepared by architects Purcell.
“This survey confirmed that serious breaches of the building’s weathering envelope were prevalent.
“Whist partly due to deteriorated and life-expired fabric, the survey findings recognised more fundamental structural challenges posed by the ad-hoc development of the museum complex and adjacent King’s Manor, which left rainwater discharge systems landlocked and incapable by design of coping with current and projected weather conditions.
“The rainwater discharge system poses a significant risk to the building and collections with regular and substantial internal leaks.”
These leaks “affect both the visitor experience and therefore numbers”.
Permission is being sought from the council to refurbish, repair and renew the museum’s rainwater management system and roofs.
There would also be some reconfiguration to the roof arrangement to “better manage rainwater disposal”.
The York Museums Trust has applied for funding for roof repairs to the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND). It will know if this has been successful in a couple of months’ time.
The Yorkshire Museum was one of England’s earliest purpose-built museums, completed in 1830.
The museum was extended to the east in 1859 to house a newly donated ichthyosaur. Then in 1912 the Tempest Anderson Hall was added, with its lecture hall.
The architects acknowledge that the changes to the roof will have an impact on the listed building.
But they say: “While some ‘less than substantial harm’ is acknowledged as a result of the proposed solution, it has been proven to be the least impactful possible while achieving the long term aims of the project and preserving the appearance and setting of the Listed building, conservation area and registered park and garden in public views.”
You can read and comment on the planning application here.
Correction: Originally we reported that money had been granted by the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) to fund the work. That is incorrect, the funding bid is still being assessed. We apologise for error