What’s been happening – Roof Repair Project 2025

From Monday 6 January 2025 until Saturday 15 February 2025, National Maritime Museum Cornwall was temporarily closed for some essential repairs to the building’s roof.

We were awarded an Arts Council Museum Estate and Development grant to undertake a comprehensive approach to repair some significant leaks. The Museum’s roof has leaked for a long time, it has sometimes meant we’ve had more buckets catching drips than boats on display.

We knew that the work would be very disruptive, so we took the difficult decision to fully close the Museum for the duration of the main works.

During the six-week closure the Museum has replaced its entire roofing system, increased drainage and improved weatherproofing and insulation. Alongside these major structural repairs, the Museum has also carried out a number of other works to replace and repair high-level windows, upgrade gallery spaces and improve access.

When the Museum reopens on Saturday 15 February, some external works will continue. The Museum team expect these to be completed by the end of March 2025.

We’d like to extend our thanks to all our visitors for bearing with us whilst we completed these important upgrades.

A full closure gave us the opportunity to undertake lots of other vital work at the same time:

• Repairing and replacing the leaking windows above the Museum’s Waterside Café and in the Tower. The new windows arrived by crane to the roof level and the old ones had to be lifted off by the crane too
• Removing the existing roof membrane and installing a new roofing system, crucially improving drainage and weatherproofing.
• A deep clean and condition checking of the Museum’s objects and display cases, including the boat collection in The Boat Hall
• Adjustments to the Cornwall Galleries to update selected displays and improve the visitor journey
• Installation of a ventilation in chemical stores and a permanent pump to remove stagnant water in some of the Museum’s storage areas
• Improving access to the Boat Pool whilst updating the internal mechanics to make cleaning and servicing it much easier