PAN1238 - Abbey Pumping Station Redevelopment’

Leicester City Council Arts & Museums Service is seeking a museum design and interpretation specialist to develop options for the interpretation and design of the Abbey Pumping Station museum and site as a whole (APS). An initial vision has been developed through a series of workshops and is summarised below.

APS is a former sewage pumping station located two miles north of Leicester city centre. Built by the council in 1891 as a beautifully detailed monument to civic pride, it ran until 1964 as a key part of Leicester’s public health infrastructure. At the core of the Grade II listed building are four rare examples of Woolf compound rotative beam engines, built by the Leicester engineering firm of Gimson & Co. All four beam engines have been restored to working condition in their original setting, thoguht to be unique in world terms.

In 1973, the building re-opened as Leicester's Museum of Science and Technology, displaying the city's industrial, technological and scientific heritage. The museum houses permanent exhibitions on light and optics, historic transport and public health and has a programme of events and steaming days, attracting c.55,000 visitors per year.

The site occupies seven acres of land adjacent to the River Soar and houses a number of buildings as follows, as well as grounds containing the original sewage work infrastructure and a narrow gauge railway which is a historic feature of the site.

The main building comprises:
• the Main Exhibition Gallery on the ground floor which historically housed the original boilers (only one of which remains in situ);
• the Steam Pump House which houses the four Gimson beam engines with limited interpretation;
• the Electric Pump House, a 1926 extension to the original building following electrification, which was managed by Severn Trent Water until 1997;
• the Switch Room which links the original building and extension and is currently used for education activities and a café on event days.

The outbuildings comprise:
• the Transport Shed, a 1971 construction, which currently used for general museum and vehicle storage and workshop space and is opened to the public for exhibitor stalls on event days when the vehicles are moved out for display within the grounds;
• Workshops including a historic print shop and forge, currently used for workshop space, storage, volunteer mess room and public toilets;
• Manager’s House, currently used as staff offices;
• A permanent marquee (c.180-230 capacity) to be installed in April 2016.