Swindon & Wiltshire News
Thames Valley Science Park to play major role in Natural History Museum’s £550 million transformation plans
Thames Valley Science Park is to play a vital role in the £550 million transformation plan unveiled by the Natural History Museum in London last week.
The museum outlined a major expansion project ahead of its 150th anniversary celebrations in 2031.
Chief among them is the £200 million project to move a third of its collection from “unsuitable, unsustainable storage” in South Kensington to its purpose-built science, research and digitisation centre at Thames Valley Science Park.
The facility, which is the size of three football pitches, is due to open in 2026.
“By moving the collection we are preserving this powerful scientific tool for next 150 years, while increasing access and collaboration with the science community, and returning gallery space back to its intended use,” said the museum.
The museum’s overhaul will see four existing galleries – including the famous dinosaur gallery – at its Victorian building in Kensington renovated. Two long-closed exhibition spaces will be reopened, including the Old General Herbarium, has not been accessible to the public since 1948.
Thames Valley Science Park is owned and managed by the University of Reading.
