THE multi-million pound flagship project to transform the county museum and art gallery risks going £2.5 million over budget thanks to asbestos and other problems, and may have to be trimmed as a result.

A new progress report from its main backer Herefordshire Council calls redevelopment of the prominent listed building in Hereford's Broad Street “a key priority”.

But it says “cost consultants” have now put the total cost of the project at £21.8m, while the current budget for it is £19.23m.

The goal is to make the museum a cultural beacon in the region, offering dynamic new ways for people to engage with the area's unique heritage, with pride of place for the ‘Herefordshire Hoard’, one of the most significant early medieval treasure finds in Britain.

Recently loaned to York’s Jorvik Viking Centre, it was discovered near Leominster in 2015 by two detectorists who later served jail terms for trying to illegally sell items.

The hoard includes a gold arm bangle with beast head clasp, a pendant made from a sphere of rock crystal mounted in gold, a gold octagonal ring with black inlay and 29 rare coins mostly of Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II of Mercia.

It is thought to have been buried around 878, perhaps as part of a high-status Viking hoard, and is hugely significant, as it provided evidence that the Viking army came further south than previously thought.

The latest rise in project costs are down to the discovery of “limpet” (spray-on) asbestos in the building, higher scaffolding costs, greater preliminary costs and the need for a new electrical substation, “due to insufficient network capacity in the city”.

The council say costs “can be reduced through working with a contractor”, but warn that the project will only progress beyond the design stage if it is “deliverable and within the approved budget”.

The project has already secured £10.83m from the government, national lottery and most recently, Arts Council England, on top of £8.4m approved from the council’s own coffers, while further funding bids from other sources “are also being explored”, the council said.

Herefordshire Council cabinet member for assets and former Ross town mayor Coun Harry Bramer (Con, Penyard) said: “We won’t get final costs until we work through the detailed elements of the design with a construction partner, which is the next phase of the project.

“At the final design stage it is likely that we will revise where and how the available budget is spent, as we look to get the best value for money while being committed to providing an outstanding cultural attraction.”

He added: “We are making progress on attracting further funding to the project.”

The council has meanwhile announced it is seeking to commission “a principal contractor to undertake the design, build and handover” of the project.

So far it has simply requested information “to establish whether there are any organisations that are interested in a tender for the appointment”.

“We are looking to appoint a contractor during January 2025 with an approx 12-week period for design and early works,” before construction proper can begin – which is due to take 83 weeks or just over a year and a half, the council said.

Cheshire-based Mather & Co, who designed the R&A World Golf Museum in St Andrews, the Silverstone racetrack museum and the Olympic Museum in Switzerland, were commissioned to design the new museum and art gallery and “to create an engaging and innovative visitor experience” last April.