Paisley Museum redevelopment costs spiral by £12.5m

Councillors have agreed to put an extra £12.5m into the Paisley Museum Reimagined project due to rising inflation and delays caused by construction issues.

Renfrewshire Council voted this week to increase its budget for the project to just over £65m. A report to the council said the project had been hit by delays due to “significantly worse than anticipated” construction issues, include a range of “unforeseen defects” found in the historic museum building such as dry rot, asbestos and extensive plasterwork repairs.

The construction phase of the project, which is being led by Kier Construction Ltd, is now due to complete in July 2025, which is “well beyond the initial estimated completion date”, according to the report.

The redevelopment has also been “significantly impacted by the pandemic construction shut down, subsequent restricted working conditions, and labour and materials shortages in the period following the pandemic”, the report said, which has resulted in “extreme levels of construction cost inflation which is only recently beginning to moderate”.  

The report said the already-complex renovation had been exacerbated by “many decades of underinvestment and lack of maintenance” in the building. It said further cost increases could not be ruled out.

Designed by AL_A architects, the ambitious redevelopment aims to create a “world class destination” in Paisley and involves renovating all buildings on the museum campus, as well as creating a new public courtyard and a red glass-fronted extension housing a visitor reception and cafe.

Once the construction project is finished, work will begin on fitting out the museum buildings. This will be followed by the installation of new exhibition displays, many of which have been co-produced with local communities and partners across the world.

“These later phases are intricate and require specialist work which we expect will take several months to complete,” the council said.

The museum will be managed on behalf of the council by OneRen, the charitable trust that oversees the county’s leisure, culture and sport services.

In a joint statement, Renfrewshire Council and OneRen said: “The transformed Paisley Museum will be a world-class visitor attraction at the heart of the region’s cultural regeneration. It is already internationally award-winning for its design and will be a destination which celebrates Renfrewshire’s incredible heritage, bringing significant social and economic benefits to our communities.

“The work being undertaken is technically complex, across a suite of historic buildings. It is a project which will bring one of our area’s great heritage assets up to modern-day standards, protecting its long-term future.

“We are working well with our contractors, Kier. This is the first major refurbishment in the 150-year history of the campus and the team have encountered a number of challenges, which only became apparent through progressing this major modernisation. We are working alongside Kier to overcome these, but this has impacted on the project timescale and budget.

“We are grateful to all of our funders for their support as we work together to create a destination which showcases Paisley and Renfrewshire’s historic place in the world like never before. Every step is being taken to mitigate the potential for increased costs and to complete work as soon as possible.”