Southampton City Council (SCC) has unveiled plans for a new attraction commemorating the story of the Titanic disaster, the first stage of a project to establish a heritage centre in the city. An application for funding, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to contribute to the cost of the £15m Titanic Story scheme has been submitted. The heritage centre will be developed in two stages, stage one including exhibition spaces, learning spaces, catering, retail and reception facilities.
SCC are currently seeking businesses to help deliver the project.  It is expected that the first stage of the attraction will be completed by 2012, marking the centenary anniversary of the disaster.

The construction on a new £97m visitor Titanic attraction in Belfast, is due to begin January 2009. The attraction is called ‘Titanic Quarter’ and has been backed by the Stormont Executive, which is investing £43m towards the cost of the development.  The attraction will have a permanent Titanic Memorial Museum about the history of the Atlantic liner and the city in which it was built.  It is expected to be completed by 2012 and it is hoped that the site will attract up to 400,000 visitors a year.

Plans for a new Roman museum which would reate 120 jobs in Cumbria have been announced. Hadrian’s Wall Heritage, who have brought the land, wish to build the new attraction on the site of a Roman fort at Camp Farm, Maryport, hoping to attract more than 50,000 visitors to the area a year. Archaeologists will excavate the site before the museum is built.

Plans to convert the Victorian Bestwood Winding Engine House, in Bestwood Country Park, Nottingham, into a visitor attraction has been given the go ahead. The restoration of the Grade 2 listed building will preserve one of the few remaining twin-cylinder, vertical winding steam engines used for English coal mining. It is funded by a £1.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £300,000 from the Greater Nottingham Partnership and additional funding from the county council. A nearby electrical sub-station, Dynamo House, will also be restored and the remaining structure will be extended and converted into a visitor centre, with historical exhibition on the Winding House. Construction will be begin in August 2008 and is expected to be completed by summer 2009.

The Scotsman newspaper has published an interesting article on the struggle which the National Trust for Scotland faces with an aging membership and increasing competition from other visitor attractions.

The BBC reports that plans to house a World War Two U-Boat at the Woodside Ferry Terminal in Merseyside have been given the go ahead.  Plans also include providing a visitor exhibition centre at the site.

Five historic parks in England will undergo restoration because of a £14m grant from the lottery funded Parks for People programme. The funding has been distributed between Newcastle (£4.5m), West Bromwich (£4.4m), Plymouth (£3.3m), Worcester (£803,000) and Newark (£1.13m). The funding will help to preserve the green spaces and the environment for the future.

The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction, in Cumbria, has reported a 38% increase in visitors since 2006. The boost in the number of visitors is linked to the continuing promotion of the film ‘Miss Potter’ and events to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of character Jemima Puddle-Duck.

By promoting the Lake District area through the films release, the attraction has said that group visits appear to be extending their normal period of stay from one to two days.

The Beatles Story visitor attraction, in Liverpool, is expanding as it is opening a new interactive area. It will be called the Discovery Zone and will allow visitors to learn about the Beatles’ music and the times they lived in interactively. Activities will include visitors being able to create their own newspaper, select a song to sing at the 1950’s record store and creating their own Beatles inspired artwork. They have also invested in a new audio guide, designed to be more family friendly, in the hope of attracting more children to the attraction.

Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Limited (HWHL) was set up in 2006 by groups including One North East and English Heritage to attract visitors to the Wall.   Of the 450 businesses across its route, 78% said the group was having a positive impact on the economy.  As well as helping to boost the economy the group also helps to protect and conserve the World Heritage Site. HWHL hopes to build the area into a brand, and the businesses which responded positively found that the Hadrian’s Wall brand has raised the profile of the area.

The Vindolanda Trust and the National Maritime Museum (London) have been awarded £9 million worth of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A project to repair the city walls surrounding Chichester, has been awarded £685,000 by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The Chichester City Walls Partnership, Led by Chichester District Council, is looking to carry out the work over a 3 year period.

The City walls are 1,700 years old, are a scheduled monument and at 1.5 miles in length they are the most intact circuit of town or city walls in the south east of England. The HLF grant will also go towards funding community archaeological projects, providing disabled access and historical research.

Plans to transform Bow Street Magistrates Court and Police Station in Covent Garden, London, into a luxury hotel have been approved by Westminster City Council. The property is a Grade 2 listed building and has historical connections with Oscar Wilde.  The plans include an ‘interpretive centre’ which incorporates existing cell blocks as well as the preservation of court rooms as areas of the hotel with public access.

The former home of the Von Trapp family, made famous by The Sound of Music, is being redesigned as a hotel. There are no plans to make alterations to the building itself, only essentials such as painting and re-wiring. The Villa Trapp, on the outskirts of Salzburg, as well as the park surrounding the villa will be open to the public in July. Visitors will be able to sleep in the family’s former bedrooms and even get married in the chapel. It will cost around £80 a night to stay in the hotel.

Two of the most well know British ships, the Mary Rose and the Cutty Sark have been awarded a significant Heritage Lottery Fund grant of over £30 million.

“Learn all about best practice in generating visits and spend in heritage based tourism destinations. You will network with both local businesses and guests from other UK heritage towns and cities.”   A number of speakers will be attending this event on the 5th February 2008 -  to find out more visit Scottish Enterprise’s website.

English Heritage is to receive additional funding over the next three years.    Funding will increase from £123.7m to £124.7m in 2008/09 and by 2010/11 it will have increased to £130.7m.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has recently announced that 43 museums and galleries will benefit from £4 million worth of grants.  The grants from the Department for Culture Media and Sport and the Wolfson Foundation will be used to help improve the quality of displays and the visitor experience.  Read more here.

City University provides links to a number of useful heritage and cultural tourism reports and website.