Highland Folk Museum to move to single Newtonmore site.

Members of The Highland Council’s Badenoch and Strathspey Area Committee today (Monday, 04 December 2006) agreed that the future of the Highland Folk Museum will comprise a single site at Newtonmore, costing an estimated £7.3million.

Currently the Highland Folk Museum operates in a dual site role with one site in Kingussie and the other two and a half miles away at Newtonmore. Kingussie, opened in 1944, is the first home of the Highland Folk Museum. Here visitors may see parts of the core collections as well as the 'Blackhouse'. Newtonmore, opened in 1995, is a mile-long living history site that includes re-constructed buildings, a 1700s 'Township', a 1940 working farm, live interpretation and a range of visitor facilities.

In May 2006, Jura Consultants of Edinburgh were commissioned by The Highland Council to undertake an independent review of the Highland Folk Museum.

Members heard in a report to committee that the Highland Folk Museum building in Kingussie has been physically deteriorating for some years; areas are closed for staff and user safety and the Museum’s fabric would require substantial structural work and refurbishment to stabilise it before any further investment. Remaining displays are old and tired with appropriate facilities for collections management, user access and staff inadequate, out-moded or non-existent. The Museum’s condition and current potential is reflected in its poor visitor figures and at present will not meet the national standards for accreditation which museums are invited to submit applications for every three years.

Members agreed to move all operations of the Highland Folk Museum to the one site in Newtonmore at a provisional estimated cost of £7.3million which could generate additional revenue of £1.3 to £1.8 million in the economy of the Highlands and a potential 72 additional jobs.

The single site option of the Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore offers a number of advantages including: a more manageable visitor experience; the opportunity for more display and storage of collection items; more space for potential growth of the collection; potential for improved interpretation themes; and more scope for development of the visitor experience.

To maximise Newtonmore’s potential the single site recommendation comprises the construction of an entrance facility housing a range of visitor activities, exhibitions, services and administration; and construction for housing curatorial, storage, archive, library and related services.

Highland Council officers were instructed to proceed with detailed development plans and an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the move of the museum to a single site in Newtonmore.