The Bolton Museum is a public museum and art gallery opened in 1939 and owned by Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council. They have a collection of natural history, archaeology, art, local history and one of Britains’ oldest aquariums.

BWD were commissioned to design and project manage the retail space, which sits above the entrance lobby and is the route visitors take to access the upper gallery space. The design references materials and finishes used in the new gallery spaces.  The layout enables visitors to move freely through the interior space.  Fixtures are designed to be linked together to enable staff to reconfigure the shop to suit the merchandise.  The units are small enough to be moved around when the area is needed for events and exhibitions.

BWD have delivered a retail space which is visually attractive, operationally functional and with flexible units that are movable to accommodate the needs of the museum now and into the future.  We have successfully worked around the limitations of the floor space which is impacted by staircases, a lift, and existing built architectural features such as columns. BWD have delivered a space which encourages intuitive visitor movement.