EXTENSIVE works to the roof spaces at the County Museum in Dorchester has been given permission to go ahead.

Dorset Council has backed the application to refurbish and replace much of the main roof, including replacing fibre cement slates with natural slate.

Water leaks from the roof have been causing damage to some internal areas for some time.

Museum officials will now have to try to secure the funding for the works, which could not be completed when the building was revamped in 2020/21 in a multi-million pound grant-backed scheme.

The programme includes 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.

Whether or not the Museum roof works can be funded is expected to be announced in the spring.

Museum Director Claire has said that until then she is unable to comment on the cost or duration of the works.

Crickmay Stark Architects from Dorchester, which has drawn up the proposals, say the main Museum building, which is in the town’s Conservation Area, was built between 1881 and 1883 – 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 2 listed.

Crickmay Stark said in a report backing the planning request that 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.

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

Illustration – The County Museum building, courtesy Crickmay Stark Architects Illustration – Part of the County Museum roof seen from the air - Crickmay Stark Architects