Hull’s ambitious £30m project to revitalise its maritime attractions has taken another major step towards finally being unveiled to visitors.
Already the five-year project has seen the city’s historic Spurn Lightship refurbished and moved to a new berth, while work continues to transform its Maritime Museum and create a brand new visitor attraction for Hull’s last remaining sidewinder trawler the Arctic Corsair.
Now a specialist contractor is beginning the final stages of the project to showcase Hull as a world-class ‘Maritime City’ destination celebrating 800 years of seafaring history.
Award-winning museum and heritage fit-out contractor, Marcon – which has worked on high-profile projects including HMS Victory and Titanic Belfast Gallery – has been appointed the principal contractor to bring Hull’s maritime past to life.
A key milestone in the delivery phase of the Hull Maritime project, the interpretation and exhibition fit out at all three of the city’s key seafaring treasures is expected to take a year to complete.
New display cases, interactive technology, lighting, audio visual and interpretation graphics will aim to inspire visitors and highlight the historical significance of Hull’s maritime history bringing its “stories to life like never before”.
Giving a first glimpse of Hull’s new-look maritime attractions will be the Spurn Lightship – which guided vessels as they navigated the Humber estuary, one of the world’s most treacherous waterways – when the vessel re-opens as a floating museum later this year.
Now moored at its newly built, permanent site near Murdoch’s Connection pedestrian footbridge, which links the Marina to the city centre, the attraction will have a new lease of life following restoration and re-fitting after closing to the public in 2018.
Hull’s other nationally important ship, the Arctic Corsair, will sit at the heart of a new £3.8m visitor attraction in the former North End Shipyard in the Old Town, due to open in spring/summer 2025. Showcasing the trawler’s dramatic story, the new attraction will include a state-of-the-art ‘Passivhaus’ building, making it one of the most energy efficient in the UK’s cultural and heritage sector.
Among other new-look attractions as part of the five-year Hull Maritime project, which is funded by Hull City Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, will be the Maritime Museum, housed in the city’s Grade 2* listed Dock Offices built in 1871.
It closed its doors in 2019 for a £12m refurbishment and is due to re-open later in 2025 with more of its Victorian architecture revealed, new galleries, improved visitor facilities and, for the first time, access to one of the building’s distinctive domes offering panoramic rooftop views across the city.
For more information visit maritimehull.co.uk
For all other tourism information about Hull, see www.visithull.org
Photo: How the new-look Hull Maritime Museum will look. Hull City Council/Maritime Hull