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“We don’t ever want it to be finished” - Museum of Making opens at Derby's UNESCO site

2021-06-07T13:22:00-04:00

A new museum in England has given new life to a 300-year-old factory building after an £18 million capital campaign.

The aptly named Museum of Making is now open and operational inside a repurposed former factory space at the Derwent Valley Mills, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001.

MoM Exterior 5 – Credit Derby Museums & Art Lewry, Culture Communications Collective

Leeds-based Bauman Lyons has partnered with Derby Museums since 2011 to spearhead a redesign of the historic mill using an innovative hands-on approach that meant working with community members to collaborate on a model for what eventually became the first DIY museum in the country.

A 2015 ground floor refurbishment left an open space for volunteers to "fit-out" with the help of makers-in-residence, which led to an expanded effort the firm credited to the "maker" movement.

The Gateway at the Museum of Making - Speller Metcalfe-Derby Museums

The Museum, now a Grade II Listed Building, is unique bot...

One Leeds’ most iconic industrial buildings is being put up for auction for just £1

2017-11-27T18:57:00-05:00

Temple Works, a former flax mill in Leeds, has been listed for sale, in the Pugh auction on December 7th, with a starting price of just one pound according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. The Egyptian-influenced industrial building is one of the city's oldest and most cherished, and is the only Grade I listing in Holbeck.

Completed in 1840, the building that once boasted one of the largest rooms in the world has since reached a parlous state. Last used commercially in 2004 by Kays Catalogues, the property was inherited by the Barclay family who own the Telegraph media group and are accused of leaving the building to rot.

In 2008, one of the site's 18 lotus pillars collapsed, bringing down a section of the beautifully ornate wall as well. Along with some broken stonework and other damage, the 10,948 square-meter mill has subsequently been featured among the Victorian Society’s '10 most endangered buildings' and the site's condition has been listed as 'very bad' by the English Herita...