The Natural History Museum (NHM) is now set to move more than 27 million specimens to a new science and digitisation centre at the Thames Valley Science Park.
Owned and run by the University of Reading, the facility will house approximately a third of the museum’s 80 million objects in its largest collections move since the 1880s.
Built using sustainable methods, the centre will include new collections spaces, specialist care and conservation facilities, digitisation suites, molecular laboratories, cryo-facilities and high-performance computing clusters.
27 million specimens relocating
The relocation will improve the visitor experience at the Natural History Museum in London, with several gallery spaces currently used to store specimens. These will be restored and made accessible to the public.
Doug Gurr, NHM director, said the museum looks forward to joining the “lively community of ambitious, knowledge-based organisations at Thames Valley Science Park and forging closer relationships with institutions already based there”.
The Thames Valley Science Park is already home to institutions including the British Museum, Rutherford Science Centre, Shinfield Studios and Oxford Quantum Circuits.
Gurr said the University of Reading “has a world-class reputation for teaching and research and there is enormous scope for collaboration on shared areas of scientific specialisms”.
The facility will house the museum‘s mammal collections and non-insect invertebrates such as corals, crustaceans, molluscs and worms. It will also be home to the molecular collections and the ocean bottom sediments collection.
The new venue will also accelerate the museum’s digitisation project. So far, approximately five million specimens have been digitised. Digitising all 80 million objects could create in excess of £2bn in economic benefit.
Vice-chancellor of the University of Reading Professor Robert Van de Noort said the project is an “exciting development” for the university that could provide “significant opportunities for our academics and students”.
Subject to planning permission, the facility is expected to open in 2026.
Images: Natural History Museum
