Disaster: Flood at the Museum Store

November 2023

Unfortunately, the Museum’s Archive Store suffered a low-level mains water leak to the museum store on 21st September from a failing piece of copper piping to the adjacent facilities. Fortunately, it was discovered quickly but the floor was soddened which has caused a lot of disruption. Objects that needed to be moved to avoid further damage were moved up to a meeting room swiftly thanks to quick reactions from staff and volunteers.

A vacuum was used to remove the excess water and two industrial dehumidifiers have been drying out the room since the incident. Fortunately, there was minimal water damage to the collection but there is a lot of work to do to record, document and manage objects that were salvaged. Our curatorial volunteers are helping us each Tuesday to progress with this work.

Harwell Restoration conducted a site visit on 4th October to assess the damage and recommend next steps. They confirmed that the floor and masonry were still wet and expressed concern about potential damage of the area under the mobile racking unit. They have carried out a detailed moisture survey. This included an investigation beneath the mobile racking unit. We await the detailed report to agree and plan for the next steps.

In the meantime, we applied for £1,000 for a collections care grant from the Southeast Museum Development Agency. They deemed our case as an emergency and agreed to grant us £2,000 to help us manage the remediation project.

This leak has put our new plan on hold whilst we prioritise the Collection; we are looking at how we can offer new engagement opportunities for visitors – albeit a more manageable and a much scaled down approach.