The Metalwork Gallery in Sheffield’s £15m Millennium Galleries is due to reopen to the public on 1 July after a £500,000 transformation.

The improvements – which have been created with input from the local community to celebrate Sheffield’s metalwork heritage – include brand new displays, interactive elements and 3D animation.

A £425,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled the gallery to buy the Bill Brown Collection – a 1,300-piece cutlery collection comprising implements dating from around 4,000BC.

The collection – which will be on permanent display for the first time and be free of charge – has taken Brown more than 45 years to assemble.

Funding has also enabled the gallery to run a Community Involvement and Curatorial Programme, which has developed family and educational resources to encourage engagement with the exhibits.

An award of £79,100 from the Designation Challenge Fund has added new material in the form of oral testimonies, interactive displays and objects.

The finishing touch to the gallery – which closed for the revamp on 9 June – comes in the form of a 3D sound-scape, which plays sounds from the metal work trade and voice recordings alongside the displays.

The sound-scape was designed by The Illustrious Company and funded with a £12,725 grant from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

The gallery also features a selection of pieces on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Cutler’s Company in Hallamshire, the Hawley Trust and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Details: www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk