The popular Manchester museum taking inspiration from 1800s technology in major refurb

Bosses at a major Manchester museum are looking to their Georgian past for inspiration - as they work to make the building more sustainable.

The Science and Industry Museum, in Castlefield, is currently undergoing a huge swathe of upgrades to ‘improve energy efficiency’ at the attraction. Bosses have already secured planning permission to improve water pumps, pipework, remove the power hall roof, and now are bidding to refurbish the gallery space.

The latest project includes plans to ‘remove, replace and reinstate flooring, and remove and replace internal platforms, balustrades’, documents show. However, those plans are just the final step in a multi-year project.

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“In December 2020, £4.3 million of funding from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme was awarded to the Power Hall and the wider Science and Industry Museum (SIM) site to substantially improve energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions across this globally significant site,” a planning statement said. “This grant will ensure the museum’s environmental sustainability and support Greater Manchester’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the national target.”

And to hit that target, the museum is going back to the 1800s in search of technology to meet the challenges. The statement continued: “This environmental sustainability project will utilise some of the unique site-specific opportunities.

“For example, in 1830 a well was built on the site to harness the power of the ground water. This natural resource will once again be utilised by the installation of new water source heat pumps and boreholes along with the latest green technologies.

“This is a