Crawley Borough Council has been awarded £1.15m by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to help create a new museum in the town’s centre.

The council, working in partnership with the Crawley Museum Society, is looking to install the facility within The Tree and The Tree Annexe at a total cost of £1.95m.

It is hoped the project will get underway in April 2015, with a build time estimated at around 18 months.

Having already sought to upgrade The Tree with a spend of £763,000, the council plans to connect the two buildings with a glass link.

The museum will see new specialist display facilities and equipment brought to the town, with educational material developed and opportunities created for volunteers and the public to become involved with its activities.

The museum society, council and the HLF believe the attraction has the potential to improve the town’s heritage offerings, with the Crawley Museum Society operating the new attraction with financial support from the council.

Planning permission, which was a stipulation of the bid, has already been granted.

“A new museum in one of the town’s oldest buildings will give heritage an enhanced role in the educational and cultural life of Crawley,” said Stuart McLeod, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England.

“It will provide increased opportunities for community-based events alongside both temporary and permanent exhibitions about the history of the town and its people.”

The Tree is a Grade II listed building originally built in 1280.