Sorry for the slightly delayed response – caught up with a few TV programmes last night and have been out and about in Notts today taking photos for a forthcoming new publishing project for the museum. 🙂
Thanks for the suggestions David, which have been considered.
The ‘Dambusters Hut’ is mainly used as an education space and occasionally as additional café space during special event days. Technically it is on the accession log as an exhibit, and it isn’t seated on proper foundations. However, because of its location and the topography of site around the dispersal-point, occasionally it suffers from minor flooding issues. As such it’s not really ideally suited to the use that you suggested.
Also it’s now being used more regularly for the education visits e.g. these are averaging one a week for the next six weeks – so NAM does not want to lose the ‘wartime school room’ ambiance the Dambusters Hut currently has.
The airliner fuselage concept has also been considered, but in view of the amount of work required to get something up to food hygiene standards i.e. staff toilets, running water etc. this has also been discounted. If it was the Ashton that you had in mind then there would also be capacity and structural integrity issues to consider. Plus its National Aviation Heritage Register status!
These factors combine to suggest bespoke prefabricated units are the best option; perhaps on a full package basis i.e. design, planning approval, CIL, install and commission.
It’s also good to report that as a registered charity the museum now has a Just Giving page for ‘Project Panini’; anyone so minded can now make an online contribution via this weblink!
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