As I write, our colleagues in the Manchester Museum are painstakingly taking apart the displays in the mammals gallery at the Manchester Museum, many of which are now 25 years old.
(This image, of course, is from a previous refurbishment.)
The gallery will be reborn, phoenix-like, as Living Planet. Many of the same mounts, and some new, interesting specimens from the stores, will be re-interpreted for the twenty-first century. Museums are not static mausolea, but dynamic, changing entities.
New Light on Old Bones 
Be really great to know more about this, and the plans for Rossendale we have heard snippets about. We were not aware that this process was taking place! Might make a difference to how we approach the project/collaboration.
Just seen that it refers to Manchester, not Blackburn, but still relevant to the NLOB project in terms of current developments and directions.
Blackburn are making developments in their galleries too. Both were given funding as part of NLOB to improve their natural history offer, and to utilise Mark’s research in a way that would benefit the audience.
Yes, this is an important development for the region, I think: see
http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/yourvisit/galleries/animallife/
and
http://naturemanchester.wordpress.com/
I love the fact that you can see snippets of the older museum in this image. I can see a sign for the Cannon Aquarium at the top. With all that scaffolding in, it makes a space I am deeply familiar with seen very small, however I am very interested and excited about the development and cannot wait until next year.
The blog is a great way to find out whats going on with the development – can’t recommend it enough.