Legendary 19th century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel – creator of UK landmarks like Bristol’s Clifton suspension bridge – is to be the subject of a new £7m ($11.6m, €8.5m) museum celebrating his work.

The attraction, Being Brunel, will sit next to the SS Great Britain ship museum in Bristol, which centres on another of Brunel’s famous creations. It will be built within the historic Great Western Steamship Company dockyard and is expected to offer public access to the engineer's design collections for the first time.

A major redevelopment of the derelict buildings that overlook the floating harbour will allow visitors to discover original Brunel artefacts, explore the life and world of the engineer and step back in time inside his original drawing office.

The project received £4.9m ($8.1m, €5.9m) in initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), as well as a development grant of £176,000 ($292,373, €212,763) in the body’s latest tranche of funding announcements.

The £176,000 ($292,373, €212,763) grant will enable the Trust to develop the project proposal and submit a round two application. If that application is successful, the Being Brunel national project can go ahead – aiming to open to the public in 2016.

Run by the SS Great Britain Trust, with the architecture contract to soon go out to tender, the development will form the hub of a new National Brunel Network of people, places, institutions and heritage resources around the UK. The Trust is planning fundraising initiatives to take the total amount of money up to the £7m ($11.6m, €8.5m) mark.

“Visitors will be able to explore Brunel’s life and works and then compare their own skills to his, relating his achievements to the modern world. We feel there’s no better epicentre than Bristol for this to happen,” said SS Great Britain Trust chief executive Matthew Tanner.

“We aim to inspire the next generation of young scientists and engineers with everything we do at the ss Great Britain Trust. The Being Brunel museum development and national network will do just this."