Today, Friday 11 October, marks the culmination of the £65 million programme with the opening of the Hawking Building, a vast and innovative facility where the Science Museum Group is caring for the nation’s science collection. Over 300,000 historic objects have been carefully studied, digitised and moved into the new purpose-built building at the Science and Innovation Park in Wiltshire, which is now open for guided tours, school and research visits.
The first behind-the-scenes public tours of this building begin today, with tour dates in 2025 now available to book, allowing visitors to get up close to the Science Museum Group’s world-class collection of objects from science, technology, engineering, and medicine. Led by an expert guide, visitors on the guided tours will encounter incredible, world-changing objects in their new home and discover their stories, while also enjoying stunning views of this vast facility and seeing Science Museum Group staff at work caring for the collection.
The facility has been inaugurated as the Hawking Building, in recognition of the lasting impact of Professor Stephen Hawking’s scientific research and public engagement, and his long-standing relationship with the Science Museum Group.
As a child, Hawking drew inspiration from regular visits to the Science Museum. Much later, he lent his communication devices for display, gave lectures and debated Nobel Prize laureates in the museum, and even served as a guide for a day. In 2021 the extraordinary contents of Hawking’s Cambridge University office were acquired for the nation by the Science Museum Group through the UK Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme. More than 1,000 objects, including his communication and mobility equipment, have since been studied and cared for in the Hawking Building, with staff and researchers uncovering the everyday and extraordinary stories within them.
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director and Chief Executive of the Science Museum Group, said: ‘I am thrilled to announce the Hawking Building as the name for this remarkable home for the world-famous objects in our care. Having been inspired at the Science Museum as a child, Stephen became a great friend to the Science Museum Group and this is a fitting way to celebrate that life-long relationship and our acquisition of the extraordinary items from his office that will inspire others for generations to come.
‘The first public tours of the Hawking Building mark a significant milestone in the transformation of how we research and share our internationally significant collection with the world. Thanks to generous funding and support from HM Treasury and DCMS, more than 300,000 historic objects have moved to this state-of-the-art facility that sets new standards in environmentally sustainable collections care.‘
Tim Hawking said: ‘As a family, we are delighted that the Science Museum Group has chosen to name this magnificent new facility the Hawking Building. We are so grateful to the Science Museum Group for taking such good care of the Stephen Hawking collection and ensuring that his work and legacy as a scientist, disability advocate and technology pioneer will be accessible to visitors to their museums nationwide.’
The Science Museum Group created the Hawking Building, its new collection management facility at the Science and Innovation Park, thanks to funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and from HM Treasury as part of the £150 million Blythe House Project, which saw collections from the Science Museum Group, the British Museum and the V&A moved from Blythe House in west London into new facilities.
The Hawking Building enables the Science Museum Group to better store, conserve, research and digitise our unique collection, while also improving the process of displaying items across the Group’s five museums. As the Hawking Building opens for guided public tours, school and research visits for the first time, it will revolutionise public access to the Science Museum Group Collection, ensuring these historic objects continue to inspire future generations.
ABOUT THE SCIENCE AND INNOVATION PARK
The Science and Innovation Park is a 545-acre former RAF airfield near Swindon in Wiltshire. The site plays a vital role in caring for our collection, and with native woodlands, runways and one of the UK’s largest solar farms, the Park is key to the Science Museum Group’s sustainability work as well as hosting a range of research and development projects and commercial activities. At the heart of the Park is the National Collections Centre where more than 300,000 historic objects from the Science Museum Group Collection have been carefully moved into their new purpose-built home, the Hawking Building, for conservation, study and public access. www.scienceinnovationpark.org.uk.