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History Shop Blog Entry
Blog Date: April 2009
Added by: Philip Butler, Visitor Services Manager, WLCT
Date Added: 22/05/2009
My name is Philip Butler and I
have worked at the History Shop since its opening in 1992. During this
time I have seen many changes, the ground floor used as the Careers
Service for three years, exhibitions on topics as varied as death
customs and the history of Wigan Athletic, floods of the basement, water
through the roof and pigeons in the attic.
The building is now undergoing its greatest upheaval yet with a full
refurbishment including the roof and exterior, lift access to the upper
floor, redisplay of the galleries and the study area and a new reception
and retail area.
During this work I, and a number of other Heritage staff, will remain on
a daily basis within the building. This in itself will be quite an
experience and I hope to share the highs and the lows through this blog.
I will meet regularly with the architect and the main contractor, speak
to the site manager and workmen on a daily basis, and post a regular
update with pictures and add to the Historical Snippets.
Now for the first time since 1878 the building has been cleared of all
its books. This is probably the most significant aspect of the interior
work so far, the first floor without its books looks eerie, the shelves
still there as if waiting to be restocked, waiting for life to return to
the study library.
Most of the first month has been spent, in the words of our contractor
‘establishing the site’. This has been slightly more involved than you
might suppose with the number of Heritage staff still working from part
of the building. We still have access to two work offices, a small
meeting space, a toilet and a small kitchen area.
Image: Scaffolding appearing around the
History Shop
The most obvious signs of this ‘establishing’ has been the slow growth
of the scaffolding around the building. This also includes a small site
compound in front of the building and safe pedestrian routing down
Library Street and along Rodney Street. This is still not complete as it
needs to tower above the roofline of the building in order for a
temporary roof to span across. Lookout for this towards the end of May.
Work has nevertheless been brisk. Initial tasks have included:
• Clearance of the site of furniture, the books had already been removed
following the closure at Christmas. A number of larger pieces are
remaining on site throughout the project and have been carefully
protected for the duration.
Extension wall/roof before
stripping
• Stripping back – otherwise known as the ‘destructive survey’ – to see
the extent of building issues otherwise hidden behind plaster, floors
and ceilings.
• In the attic of the main building this did reveal some issues that
need to be dealt with. However none of the damage revealed has been
serious enough to threaten the project or the building itself, and
timber specialists Robinsons will be working with us over the coming
months.
• In places things do look bad at the moment, stripped plaster and
raised floorboards, but the contractors assure us that this is normal
for this stage of the work. One month of this project has taught me more
about parts of this building than seventeen years working here had done!
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