Expansion of Beamish Museum, Durham

Brief Description

The proposed expansion of Beamish Museum, an open air museum telling the story of life in North East during the 1820’s, 1900’s, and 1940’s.

The museum attracts c. 650,000 visitors per year from across the UK and internationally. The proposed expansion to the visitor facilities form part of the Remaking Beamish programme and is anticipated to result in additional 100,000 visitors per annum to the museum.

Key Objectives

S.A.J prepared a Transport Statement (TS) and provided input to a carbon assessment required as part of a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The TS included an assessment of the anticipated increase of 100,000 visitors per annum on parking, travel planning initiatives, and the local highway network.

Additional assessment included the processing of c.200,000 visitor post codes to estimate the carbon impact of visitor travel to the museum.

Outcomes

The application received support from highways officers at Durham County Council and Highways England offered no objections to the development proposals, contributing to the proposals receiving planning approval.

Beamish Museum was also successful in securing funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to deliver the proposed expansion programme.

Client

Beamish Museum, County Durham