Bovington Tank Museum workshop gets lottery funding boost

The project includes setting up a research programme into the care of historical vehicles.

A new workshop to help restore vintage military vehicles is set to be built after getting lottery funding.

The £2m facility at Bovington Tank Museum near Wareham in Dorset will allow work on its collection of more than 300 tanks and armoured vehicles.

The project will also involve setting up an apprenticeship scheme to train new conservators and restorers.

Director Richard Smith said it would "transform our facilities and deepen our knowledge".

The workshop will be larger and better equipped than its current facility and will sit alongside the museum's conservation centre which opened in 2013.

The project also includes setting up a research programme into the care of historical vehicles.

The workshop is part of a £14m development of the museum

Mr Smith said it would mean "long term, sustainable care" of the tanks would be possible.

"Surprisingly little is known about the long term storage and operation of historic vehicles, and this is critical to ensuring we still have a collection in a hundred years".

The Bovington attraction is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and Royal Armoured Corps.

It displays vehicles used by the British Army as well as foreign forces.

The workshop is the final stage of a development which has been given a total of £14m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

A new 40,000 sq ft (3,700 sq m) conservation centre complex brought all of the museum's collection indoors for the first time when it opened in 2013.

Work on the new workshop is expected to start in September and be completed by May 2018.