EXTENSIVE work is required to the roofs at the County Museum in Dorchester – although funding has not yet been secured.

A planning application asks to refurbish and replace much of the main roof, including replacing fibre cement slates with natural slate.

Water leaks from the roof are already causing damage to some internal areas.

Although the Museum was revamped in 2020/21 in a multi-million pound scheme, funding could not be found at the time to replace the roof, although at the time it was already deemed to be beyond its useful life.

The works now being proposed include replacing lead flashings, roof valleys, parapet gutters and lead and copper cladding to dormer windows as well as repairs to the decorative Victorian Gallery windows.

Repairs and repointing to chimneys and parapet walls will also be undertaken, as necessary.

Museum Director Claire Dixon said, at the moment, she is unable to comment on the cost or duration of the works with a news embargo on possible funding until at least next spring.

When the works take place scaffolding is expected to be in place for several months.

The main Museum building, which is in the town’s Conservation Area, was built between 1881 and 1883, according to architect’s Crickmay Stark Architects who have drawn up plans for the roof works  – with another part of the complex, at 65 High West Street, said to date from the early 17th century and known as Handel’s House, which was re-fronted in the 18th century.

Both buildings are Grade II listed.

A report by Crickmay Stark says the roofs had already reached the end of their useful life at the time of the major redevelopment in 2020/21, but had to be omitted from those works due to the cost.

“Fundamentally the roofscape leaks, and has done for a prolonged period. Consequently, there is evidence of internal water ingress in wall and ceiling plasterwork and finishes,” said the architect’s report on the state of the roof spaces and the pressing necessity for the works.

They say the existing fibre cement slates on most of the roof, which are beyond their useful life, should be replaced with Cembrit Glendyne Canadian slate, geologically the same slate as quarried in Wales and which were used on the re-roofing of the nearby Corn Exchange building.

The planning details for the works, although with no guarantee of funding, are currently out for public consultation until the first week in September.

The details can be seen in full on the Dorset Council website using reference P/LBC/2024/04429