Plans to create a £34m History Centre celebrating Plymouth's culture and heritage have been approved.
The proposals involve demolishing parts of the Central Library and Plymouth Museum, and rebuilt to make way for a huge new extension which will form a museum archive, exhibition space and brand new side extension.
The proposals will turn Tavistock Place into a public square, something that it used to be before the current museum and library was built in the early part of the 20th century. A pedestrianised piazza will provide a space for events and street entertainment and high quality food outlets, will transform the location creating a new external destination in the city for visitors.
The impressive contemporary building, designed by architects Atkins, will offer interactive exhibition spaces containing galleries that will include a giant mammoth, a flotilla of historic ships, massive original figureheads and interactive maps that visitors can walk through.
The centre, which is to be renamed in advance of its opening, will have a total of 3,500 sq m of gallery and exhibition space, including five permanent galleries, five exhibition spaces for local and national touring exhibitions and six spaces that can be used for specific artistic projects.