South West Regional Development Agency

The South West RDA has invested £450k in the National Museum for Science and Industry (NMSI)'s plans to develop its 550-acre former airfield at Wroughton in Wiltshire, NMSI Woughton. Following successful feasibility studies, the South West RDA funded comprehensive project masterplanning for the project, formerly known as Creative Planet. Based on the combined collections of several national museums, including NMSI's remarkable collections of large scientific and technological objects, the future National Collections Centre (NCC) will be a visitor attraction with international reach, charting the progress of science and technology through the ages and guiding future sustainable development.  
 
Following environmental impact and transport assessments, the consultant team presented a full master plan for the National Collections Centre to the South West RDA, Government Office South West, South West Regional Assembly and the Borough Council, prior to submission for outline planning in October 2005. A significant stage one bid has also been made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the NCC and the strategic business case submitted to DCMS and HM Treasury. The project team is now working on a further large bid to the 'Living Landmarks' fund to gain future support for the build-stage of the project.  
 
During summer 2005, work commenced on the current phase of the project to undertake initial landscaping (including large scale tree planting), and convert a redundant building into a visitor centre with catering and meeting facilities and exhibition space to showcase future plans. These facilities attracted Rural Renaissance funding and will be made available to local communities.  
 
Creative Planet's Learning and Access department opened at Easter 2005 with a Science Week programme that was fully booked. Visitor numbers are already significantly up on last year and are on course for a projected 60,000 visitors for this financial year. Two summer camps were run and NMSI Wroughton was one of the host sites for the Corporate Games (2005) in partnership with nPower.  
 
The South West RDA is working in partnership with National Museum for Science and Industry, Swindon Borough Council, English Heritage, Environment Agency and other local partners to develop this project. Importantly, the project is receiving input from the private sector in order to ensure it is highly relevant to industry.