NML home > About NML > Museum developments > Museum of Liverpool > Schedule and key dates

Our venues

Skip page navigation

Museum developments

Museum of Liverpool schedule and key dates

Group of people, mostly wearing hard hats and high visibility jackets, inside the partially built museum

The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, on a visit to the Museum of Liverpool in January 2009, accompanied by National Museums Liverpool's chairman Phil Redmond and members of staff and the construction team. © Mark McNulty

What is the anticipated date for opening?

The building is currently in the final stages of construction. The fit out will start later in 2009 and the museum will open in 2011.

Important milestones in the project so far

  • On Saturday 10 January 2009 the museum building provided the backdrop for projections as a key part of the Transition events at the Pier Head to celebrate the end of Liverpool's year as Capital of Culture.
  • A ministerial party including the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Andy Burnham, Beverley Hughes and Louise Ellman visited the museum construction site on Thursday 8 January 2009.
  • A groundcutting ceremony with Loyd Grossman, the former chairman of National Museums Liverpool, was held to mark the start of construction on the site on 30 April 2007.
  • The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced an earmarked grant of £11.4million to support the fit out of the museum on 25 January 2007.
  • On Tuesday 24 November 2006 UNESCO gave the all-clear to the Museum of Liverpool following a special mission to the city. The team, which included representation from UNESCO and ICOMOS, declared that the £65 million waterfront building posed no threat to the World Heritage Site.
  • In November 2006 we were delighted to announce a £1 million donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation towards the museum.
  • In July 2006 that a £5 million European grant from the Merseyside Objective One programme was being made available to the Museum of Liverpool.
  • The former Museum of Liverpool Life closed to the public on Sunday 4 June 2006, in order to allow preparation work for the new museum building to begin.
  • Earlier in the year the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) announced a grant of £32.7million to support the development of the project.
  • Liverpool City Council granted planning permission for the new museum on 20 December 2005.
  • The pre-development of the project has been joint-funded by NWDA (£2.5 million) and European Objective One Programme for Merseyside (£2.5 million).

construction workers installing huge glass panes in the building

The first glass pane is installed in the museum's huge north facing window. © Vincent Phillips (Cassini2008 Flickr)

Excavation of Manchester Dock

The museum's field archaeology unit excavated the Manchester Dock, which is beneath the site of the new museum, in early 2007. You can follow progress with the excavation and see pictures of the finds on the National Museums Liverpool blog, including the following postings:

Back to the top