Jewish Museum plans submitted

Manchester Jewish Museum has submitted a planning application for a £4.5m restoration and extension project, subject to further Heritage Lottery funding.

The Cheetham Hill museum is housed inside the city’s oldest synagogue building and tells the story of Manchester’s Jewish community from the 1740s to 1945. The museum, which opened in 1983, currently attracts 15,000 visitors a year, including 10,000 schoolchildren. The museum aims to increase annual visitors to 50,000 once the restoration project is complete.

Formal and informal learning sessions are regularly held inside the museum, as are exhibitions and events, helping the museum promote tolerance and understanding of Jewish faith, heritage and culture.

The extension will retain the museum’s Moorish architectural style, with a modern slant.

In March 2016, London-based Citizens Design Bureau was appointed to develop architectural plans following a tender process.

The HLF awarded development funding of £426,900 in 2015 to bring forward an application for the full grant. Buttress advised the Jewish Museum in the early design stages.

The museum submitted a second bid to the HLF earlier this month requesting almost £3m, covering the majority of project costs.

A fundraising appeal has been launched by the museum to cover the remaining costs of the redevelopment.

The project will fully restore the Museum’s grade two-listed synagogue building and create an extension to house new galleries and spaces for learning, events and commercial operations.

CDB will lead a design team made up of quantity surveyor, structural engineer, mechanical and electrical services engineer, a consultant to develop the conservation management plan, and a landscape designer.

Previous projects for CDB in the North West include working with Haworth Tompkins on the interior and furniture design of the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.

The project is due to complete in early 2020.