LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND.- A £5million European grant to help cover the costs of building the new Museum of Liverpool has been welcomed by Culture Minister David Lammy. The award was made from the Merseyside Objective One programme towards the £31million Pier Head construction project and follows approval of a £26.8million grant from the Northwest Regional Development agency (NWDA) to finance building and fitting out the museum.

Work on the museum is expected to be completed in 2008 – Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture – and will draw nearly 1 million visitors to the waterfront world heritage site each year. Twenty new jobs will be created in the museum and another 280 as a result of the increase in tourists.

David Lammy said: “Liverpool is one of Britain’s best loved cities and most enduring tourist attractions. It has given visitors from across the world so much to cherish – from the local football fields to Strawberry Fields, this is a city that has left its mark on history. This grant will mean that Liverpool can at last build a fitting showcase to help visitors and local residents alike to appreciate its heritage and what it continues to be able to offer.”

The £65million museum will be the centrepiece of a new leisure, office, retail and residential complex. Seven galleries will be spread over three floors, including a children’s space for the 75,000 school pupils expected to visit each year.

Planned exhibits will include a 19th Century locomotive that ran on England’s first passenger railway line between Liverpool and Manchester, a showcase for the local people who put Liverpool on the map, and tribute to the city’s influence on international music and sport.

The state of the art facilities will replace the Museum of Liverpool life, which closed early this year. Although still attracting 300,000 visitors every year the existing museum was considered incapable of staging significant tourist exhibitions.

More than 1.6million visitors pass through the doors of the city’s eight national museums each year.

David Fleming, Director of National Museums Liverpool: “This is fantastic news, and means that just about every piece of a complex jigsaw is now in place. Just one or two more wrinkles to iron out and then we start work on site in September. This will be a fabulous asset for the city and the region which will enhance the built environment and ensure that Liverpool's museums are right up there with the best in the world.”