Opening up the Soane

The Sir John Soane Museum's £7m three-year programme of restoration and development, Opening up the Soane (OUTS) was launched on 14 February 2011 with a public appeal to raise the final £500,000 needed to complete the project.

The restoration work, begun in March 2011, will make more areas and aspects of the collection accessible to the public.

Soane's private apartments; the Catacomb and Ante-Room; the Tivoli Recess, (Britain's first public gallery of contemporary sculpture) and Soane's Model Room will all be restored and reopened.

A new Soane Gallery and Shop will be created - designed by Caruso St John Architects.

Conservation and visitor facilities will be improved and new oral history and outreach programmes will be developed.

The project will also deliver improved access for people with disabilities for the first time with the provision of a new lift, cunningly located in a disused service shaft.

Opening Up the Soane will be completed in three phases and the Museum will remain open throughout the planned works:

Phase One 2011 - 2012 – the restoration of Number 12; development of shop, gallery and conservation suite.
Phase Two: 2012 – Mid-2013 – restoration of Soane's private apartments, the model room and North drawing room
Phase Three: 2013- 2014 – restoration of Number 13 Ante rooms, catacombs Apollo recess, New Court link and development of Interpretation room.

Scaffolding went up at Number 12, at the beginning of April 2012 and will remain in place until the Spring of 2012, to enable key building work to be done.

The Museum is open as normal during building works.