Featured project

Following an extensive restoration and modernization program, the Carillon War Memorial Museum reopened in 2025 as a revitalized cultural feature within Queen’s Park.

Originally built to commemorate the fallen of World War I, the project sought to preserve the structural integrity of the tower, while radically reimagining its internal galleries.

Carillon War Memorial Museum

The objective was to evolve the site from a traditional military archive into an immersive, accessible museum that explores the human stories behind the historic sacrifice of the Great War.

The brief centred on creating a visitor experience that respects the solemnity of the tower while exploiting the extensive collection of artefacts, to explore the local history of the conflict. Because of the limited area available, we wanted to use the entire 4m height of the ground floor gallery for the displays.

Interpretation was designed to be multi-layered, using both traditional and digital sensory elements to reveal the voice of the young men who served and died. Also, the job of the museum was to explore the carillon musical instrument and the production of the bells in the John Taylor foundry.

Artefacts were selected from a collection of several thousand to illustrate a story or events in a life. A medal, a shaving kit pierced with a bullet, a letter to a grieving mother: bringing life to a name and date on a memorial.

New interpretive signage throughout Queen’s Park now links the museum to the Hope Bell, creating a unified "Remembrance Trail." This cohesive narrative strategy ensures that the Carillon serves not just as a monument to the past, but as an active, educational resource for the future of the community.

Project development

Challenges

From our initial site surveys and project brief, we knew we had to accommodate modern museum standards, the new features were engineered to fit within the existing masonry without compromising the fabric of the building. Because the gallery was at the base of the four-floor tower, all the new fixtures and fittings had to be fire retardant. A comprehensive planning and heritage impact assessment was navigated to ensure the tower remained materially unchanged while its internal utility was improved. The external stonework and the carillon bells underwent specialist conservation and the internal transformation focused on artefacts and clarity of interpretation. Materials were selected to complement the existing Portland stone and copper cladding.

Community and Stakeholder engagement

The design team worked with the volunteers to investigate the often-short lives of the servicemen of the war. Letters, army records and photographs were combined and coordinated to interpret the experiences of the soldiers. Leaving their families, training, military life, deployment and combat are all explored in the displays.

“Working closely with Rhod and John on this project I was very impressed with their dedication and patience in creating a ground floor museum space within Loughborough’s iconic War Memorial. Their guidance to the memorial trust volunteers was integral to what has been achieved and safeguards the museum for the future.”

- Kevin Stanley, Leisure Contract and Business Manager, Charnwood Borough Council