Conservation and education charity Historic Royal Palaces remains committed to its plans to redevelop and represent Kensington Palace despite narrowly missing out on a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Whilst the bid was turned down as a result of huge cuts in the HLF’s funding pot, Historic Royal Palaces believes the project, which will transform the visitor experience of the palace, can secure the funds needed to realise its ambitions.

Central to the £12 million project is creating new public gardens to reopen the vistas to and from Kensington Palace, making a new visitor entrance and new routes to explore the palace that are accessible to everyone, revealing the hidden stories of the past in lively and relevant ways, building further partnerships with the local community and realising formal and informal education opportunities.

Michael Day, Chief Executive of Historic Royal Palaces said of the news, “We are obviously very disappointed the Heritage Lottery Fund is not able to support our project for Kensington Palace, but we believe that over the past two years we have developed an excellent scheme that will transform the palace into an exciting, engaging and inspirational visitor experience for the widest possible audience. We remain fully committed to delivering this exciting vision for Kensington by 2012, and that with a combination of our own resources and the backing of supporters and partners we can achieve our ambitions.”

Whilst Kensington Palace is a popular London visitor attraction, this project will enable Historic Royal Palaces to make major improvements to ensure it remains a visitor destination that attracts an even broader, more diverse audience. Only a small proportion (250,000) of the millions of people who annually pass through Kensington’s surrounding park venture beyond the railings and foliage that enclose the palace. Inside the palace the wonderful historic rooms and collections are not shown to their best because of complicated visitor routes and dated methods of presentation. Many of Kensington’s most compelling stories remain untold. Without physical changes to the layout of the palace it will not be possible for people with disabilities to share the same experience as others. The lack of spaces for education and community uses limits Historic Royal Palaces’ ambition for sharing Kensington Palace’s rich past and historic collections with local communities and a wide range of learners.

When the project is complete in 2012:
• Kensington Palace will be completely opened up and linked once again to Hyde Park and the surrounding landscape with gardens inspired by the historic layout of the area. Historic vistas to and from the palace will be reinstated, and a new outdoor space for public use and enjoyment created.
• The main visitor entrance will be relocated to welcome and draw visitors into the palace directly from the Broad Walk and the Round Pond.
• There will be a central hub inside the palace, free of charge to enter, where visitors will get a taste of a royal palace and can choose to explore further or just stop and enjoy refreshment in relaxing surroundings.
• The rooms where Queen Victoria grew up will be redisplayed and her story told using collections of pertinent and personal historic objects. The stories of Kensington’s other fascinating personalities will follow after 2012.
• To mark the reopening there will be a special exhibition drawing on the world-renowned collection of royal dress kept at the palace.
• Children will enjoy free admission to the palace, where fun, engaging and relevant children-friendly events and activities will encourage more families to visit.
• Physical access into and around Kensington Palace will be transformed, aided by the addition of a lift providing level access to all floors.
• Historic Royal Palace’s award-winning education service will be extended to Kensington with an education strategy drawing on the palace’s relevance to the National Curriculum. Dedicated spaces will be created to accommodate formal and informal learners, including local community groups.

The £12 million project will be financed by Historic Royal Palaces supported by grants and donations from donors, sponsors, trusts and foundations. A fundraising campaign has already begun, led by the Historic Royal Palaces Campaign Board, which included a gala dinner held on 2nd October at the palace for supporters and potential supporters of Historic Royal Palaces, where the new Chairman of the Board, Ian Barlow, was announced.

Work is planned to begin in March 2010 and the project will be complete by June 2012.