Huge boost for Dundee Museum of Transport as further six figure funding is secured
- Andrew Batchelor
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Dundee Museum of Transport has received a major £247,150 National Lottery boost as work continues to transform the historic Maryfield Tram Depot.
Dundee Museum of Transport has been awarded the funding by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop the detailed plans for the permanent exhibition that will eventually fill its new home on Forfar Road.
The 15-month project will create a fully designed and costed blueprint for the exhibition, determining how thousands of objects and generations of Dundee’s transport stories will be brought together inside the restored depot.
It marks another major milestone in the ambitious project to give the museum a permanent home and breathe new life into one of the city’s historic transport buildings.
Bringing Dundee’s transport story to life
The new permanent exhibition will draw upon Dundee Museum of Transport’s collection of around 5,000 objects spanning more than two centuries.
Vehicles, photographs, models, costumes and social history objects will be used to explore Dundee’s relationship with transport by road, rail, tram, air and sea.
The permanent galleries will sit alongside flexible temporary exhibition spaces, allowing displays and stories to change after the new museum opens.
Local people will also play an important role in deciding how those stories are told.
Community workshops, public events and consultation will help shape the themes and content of the exhibition, while oral histories will capture memories connected to Maryfield Tram Depot, Dundee’s tramways and the city’s wider transport heritage.
Dr Paul Jennings, Executive Director of Dundee Museum of Transport, said the funding would allow the museum to establish exactly what the exhibition should say, how it should look and whose stories it should tell.
He said: “We are genuinely grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and to every National Lottery player whose support has made this award possible.
“This grant will allow us to create the detailed blueprint against which the new permanent exhibition will ultimately be fabricated — working out, in close collaboration with Dundee’s communities, exactly what the exhibition should say, how it should look, and whose stories it must tell.”
A multidisciplinary team including an exhibition designer, project manager, collections officer and audience development consultant will work alongside museum staff to develop the plans.
Transformation of historic tram depot gathers pace
The exhibition project will run alongside the physical restoration of Maryfield Tram Depot, which has accelerated since main contractor CHAP began work in March.
Built in 1901 and acquired by Dundee Museum of Transport in 2015, the Category B-listed depot is undergoing a major conservation programme ahead of its new life as a visitor attraction.
Cleaning and advanced demolition work has been completed, scaffolding is now in place for roof repairs and a new visitor entrance has been created from Forfar Road.
Specialist conservation work is also under way on the depot’s historic brickwork.
Damaged bricks are being individually removed and replaced with purpose-made bricks designed to match the originals, helping retain the character of the 125-year-old building.
Caroline Clark, The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland, said: “We are very pleased to be able to support Dundee Museum of Transport.
“The Museum’s collection is as much a story of the people as it is a history of transport and industry in the city. This good causes funding, raised by National Lottery players, will support the new museum as it takes shape.”
Ambitions for more than 50,000 visitors
The restoration of Maryfield Tram Depot and creation of the new museum forms part of an overall project costing approximately £8 million.
Support has already been secured from the Community Regeneration Partnership, Regional Capital Grant Fund, Historic Environment Scotland and a growing number of trusts, foundations and corporate sponsors.
The museum has ambitions to attract more than 50,000 visitors during its first full year and ultimately become Europe’s first fully carbon-neutral transport museum.
When Maryfield opens to visitors, it is also expected to become Dundee’s first major new visitor attraction since V&A Dundee opened on the waterfront in 2018.
Dr Jennings added: “Getting the blueprint right is everything.
“It is the foundation on which the whole visitor experience will be built, and we are determined that it reflects the full breadth and depth of Dundee’s remarkable transport story.”
