LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.-The award-winning Conservation Centre in the heart of Liverpool's city centre will be refurbished over the winter to offer visitors new, exciting displays in 2006. Home to a team of internationally-renowned conservators, the Conservation Centre cares for National Museums Liverpool's (NML) huge and diverse collections.

NML has been awarded £570,466 by the ReDiscover fund, a renewal fund for science centres and museums across the UK funded by the Millennium Commission, the Wolfson Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. This will go to fund a bright and lively new exhibition in the Conservation Centre.

The new exhibition will have at its centre a working laboratory that will present the scientific work of conservators through interpreted displays and demonstrations.

Surrounding displays, based around a variety of objects and interactives, will enable visitors to investigate a wide range of science applications from x-ray analyses of Egyptian mummies to laser-cleaning of sculptures. An area with microscopes, databases, interactives and a bank of objects representing common public conservation enquiries will allow visitors to explore the themes of the exhibition through connections with everyday objects.

In order to create this exciting visitor attraction the current permanent exhibition Caught in Time closes on 4 September and the remaining visitor facilities at the Conservation Centre close on 18 September. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition will remain open until 18 September.

The important work of the Conservation Centre staff will continue, however there will be no studio tours until the venue reopens.

The project team includes exhibition designers Houghton-Kneale Design and Ken Martin Architects.

K.E.Martin has practised since 1961 and from 1973 to 1989 was Head of Liverpool Polytechnic School of Architecture, becoming Professor of Architecture in 1988. Martin reverted to full time practice in 1989 and since then has undertaken a wide range of work for institutional, commercial and local authority clients on a number of conservation and urban design projects. Previous projects include improvements to Liverpool Playhouse and NML's Conservation Centre.

Houghton Kneale Design Ltd is a creative company that specialises in narrative design for museums and exhibitions.
Founded in 2000 by Richard Houghton and Kate Kneale, HKD draws on twenty years of experience in the museum and theatre design worlds to develop exhibitions as places of social interaction and to present authentic experiences. Working on the principle that teams should be brought together to suit the needs of the story they model their practice on film production methods, employing skilled professionals dedicated to specific tasks under the management of a Creative Director.

Recent projects include Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles; Geffrye Museum, London; Holocaust Memorial Center, Detroit; Singapore Science Centre.