As you will no doubt have seen in the press in the past week, a number of attractions boasting considerable outdoor spaces – notably the National Trust – are beginning to welcome visitors once again, albeit with limited capacity and amended procedures in place. We are keeping a close eye on how these organisations are undertaking the task of welcoming visitors back safely and how this is being received by the public to help inform our own plans.
We are now giving considerable thought as to how reopening might look for us and are working to a provisional reopening date of Saturday 1 August to make the most of the summer holiday period. As you’ll understand, this can’t be ‘business as usual’, and may not be for some time, so we are looking at a phased return for colleagues with furloughing continuing for some past this point.
In light of these plans, a number of colleagues who have continued working over the past 11 weeks have now been furloughed to allow others to return and help with detailed planning and preparation in areas such as programming, operations and our audiences. We’d like to reiterate our thanks to those colleagues for keeping the Museum ‘ticking over’ whilst closed.
We reported last week the encouraging response to our visitor survey which we’ve undertaken to ensure we understand how our visitors feel about returning to the Museum and what will make them confident of a safe visit. Summarised below are some of the headline findings which we will be taking into consideration:
- 73% of respondents would choose to visit in the first three months of reopening (33% within the first month)
- The following measures would making the majority of visitors feel much more comfortable about visiting:
- hand sanitiser at entrance and around site;
- one-way flow/one-in-one-out in buildings;
- online booking only to reduce admissions queues;
- timed admission slots to limit number of visitors onsite;
- extended opening hours to limit number of visitors onsite.
- Whilst overt safety measures (e.g. protection screens) are deemed acceptable in modern areas of the site, respondents wish these to be more sympathetic in historical areas to try and retain the experience where possible.
The safety of the team is of course paramount in our preparations and so we need to know your thoughts, ideas and concerns about returning to work and us reopening. Do look out for our staff survey which should be in your inboxes or via Planday in the next week. Your input will be hugely valuable so please do take the time to complete and return it.
Take care and keep safe.
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