The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced initial support for three major redevelopment projects in Cardiff, Halifax and London.

The three projects receiving a first-round pass for HLF funding are:

•    St Fagans, near Cardiff, one of the UK's earliest open-air museums (£8.7 million bid, including £450,000 development funding);
•    The Piece Hall in Halifax, an 18th-century square and monument to Yorkshire's textile industry (£7 million bid, including £239,700 of development funding);
•    The new Treasury galleries at the Science Museum, London, designed to honour achievements in science and digital communications (£6.34 million bid, including £346,200 of development funding).

The projects now have up to two years to submit fully developed proposals to compete for a firm award.

Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, commented: "These three major projects highlight the special role heritage can play in bringing people together and recognise the importance of creating wonderful places for learning and recreation."

St Fagans

 Established in 1948, St Fagans has played a crucial role in defining Welsh identity and is the country's top tourist attraction, with 600,000 visitors each year.  Part of the National Museum of Wales, it comprises historic buildings, parkland, archaeological sites and collections.  Plans for redeveloping the site include the introduction of the National Archaeology Collection, modernising galleries and adding storage space, refurbishing the main building and creating a 'Green Pavilion' where people will be able to watch archaeologists at work.  The vision for the project is to produce 'a world class museum of learning'.

Piece Hall piazza

 Each year, over one million people walk through the Grade I-listed Piece Hall's pen courtyard, which was originally designed as a place for cloth manufacturers to trade 'pieces'.  Whilst currently underused as an open civic space and tourist destination, Calderdale Council hopes to transform it into a vibrant European-style piazza in keeping with the Hall's 18th-century Italian architecture.  A space will also be created to explain the important role that the Hall has played in Yorkshire's history.

Treasury Galleries
   
The National Museum of Science and Industry is planning to create a set of 'Treasury Galleries' at the Science Museum in South Kensington.  Proposals are for four floors of the current museum to be redeveloped and turned into major galleries.  HLF would support two of these galleries: one focusing on the ground-breaking achievements of scientists and the other highlighting revolutions in digital communications.  These would be part of a wider £100 million master plan to reinvigorate a significant part of the museum's total public gallery space.

www.hlf.org.uk