The impact of Beamish Museum’s capital and community expansion

Wavehill worked with Beamish Museum to evaluate the ambitious Remaking Beamish Project, the largest capital investment in the museum’s history, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The programme expanded the museum with new immersive exhibits, learning opportunities, community participation activities and infrastructure improvements, while strengthening its long-term sustainability.

We delivered an independent process and impact evaluation, combining documentary review, stakeholder interviews, community engagement, volunteer consultation, visitor feedback analysis and on-site observation. Our work explored how the project evolved over time, how it responded to significant delivery challenges, and how new investments contributed to experiences for visitors, staff, volunteers and local communities.

Impact

The project delivered a major expansion of the museum, including new immersive exhibits spanning the 1820s and 1950s, enhanced learning programmes, community participation opportunities, transport improvements and health and wellbeing activities.
Visitor feedback highlighted strong appreciation for the authenticity, scale and immersive nature of the new experiences. Analysis of 8,806 TripAdvisor reviews found that 74% were rated Excellent, with the new 1950s exhibits frequently cited as a reason for repeat visits.
The evaluation identified how strong leadership, adaptability and organisational learning enabled the project to navigate challenges including COVID-19, inflationary pressures and complex capital delivery requirements.
The project strengthened relationships with communities, expanded opportunities for participation and created new foundations for future learning, engagement and heritage storytelling across the museum.

Outcomes

Our evaluation provided Beamish Museum with evidence on project delivery, visitor experience and organisational learning, helping inform future development, investment decisions and long-term stewardship of one of the UK’s leading open-air museums.

Image courtesy of Beamish Museum.