Pergamon Muselcm Management and Curatorship, Vol 15. No 3, pp 326 333. 1996

Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain. 0260 4779•97 $17.00 + 0.00

Professional Notes

Conservation

The New Liverpool Conservation Centre

Built in 1874 at the focal point of Liverpool's then thriving freight busi- ness, the confident Classical design of the Midland Railway Goods Offices close to the city centre reflected the boundless optim'ism of the times and thex were constructed to a rather higher stal~dard than might be strictly expected of their function. However, the decline of both the port of Liverpool and the raihvav system serving it, after the Scc end ~'orfd War, and the urban decay of much of the city centre took their tol l and this listed x~arehousc within a few hundred metres of the Liverpool Museum and the Walker Art Gallery has been rehabilitated and adapted by the National Museums & Galleries on Mcr- sevsidc (formed 1986) to house its Con servation Division.

The Masterplan was publislned in 1993 and describes the history of the develop nlcnt, the role ot conser~ation within the National Museums & Galleries on Mer- sevside, and the design brief and specifi- cation for the Conservation Centre (scc Publications Digest, 1993.4.11.1 ). Work began on the building in Spring 1993 and from the beginning the new Centre has been designed to facilitate wider public access to the work of conservation. Apart from outreach, and the cduca tional and training programmes planned for non-specialists as well as conserva- tors, the intention has always been to bring in the public. This cduciltional role

justifies both the higher costs attribut- able to the central position of the facility and the exceptionally generous alloca- tions of space to each of the specialist conservation functions, as well as the temporary display facilities and demon- stration area provided on the ground floor. The latter are served by an Acous- tiguide tour and an elegant cafd presided over by the second cast of Sir Alfred Gilbert's Eros, formerly displayed in Sefton Park and now removed here for its protection from further atmospheric pollution damage. The display, Caught m Time, sets out to explain to the public the strategic objectives of artefact con- striation and the basic techniques employed, with limited video link-ups to the studios and the opportunity to par- ticipatc in demonstrations and inter- acti~ c displays.

This programme of in-lnouse activities is intended to raise public awareness of the nccd to conserve valued artefacts in private hands, as well as those in public collections, and it is reinforced bv a wceklx conservation opinions service, provicting advice on care and main- tcnance, and the stocking in the Centrc's shop of appropriate conservation materi als whicln are difficult to find elsewhere. Guided tours arc welcomed when booked in advance and their require- ments have been taken into account in allocating space for the 46 staff and designing the layouts of their equipment, and with some 1.2m items in their care tlnc National Museums 6: Galleries on Merscvsidc also have the onerous dis- tinctitin of being responsbile tot the most diverse collections of any of Brit- ain's national illUSetllllS.

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