THE doors of Paisley Museum have been locked for the last time before work starts on a £42million revamp of the historic visitor attraction.

It will take four years to complete the refurbishment, which is the flagship project in a £100m investment in Paisley town centre over the next few years.

The museum is being redesigned by award-winning international architects AL_A.

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Renfrewshire Leisure chairperson Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes and the organisation’s chief executive, Joyce McKellar, locked the museum’s giant doors and carried out the last few exhibits.

The adjacent Central Library has also closed, as work is about to start on creating a new-look cultural hub in Paisley.

The revamped museum will showcase its art, science and natural history collections, along with telling the story of the Paisley pattern, the town’s famous weavers and being at the centre of the global thread-making industry.

It is expected to attract 125,000 visits a year – almost four times current numbers – when it reopens in 2022.

And it’s estimated it will create huge amounts of visitors to Paisley town centre, as well as a £72m economic boost over 30 years.

The redevelopment will include a contemporary addition to the existing Victorian-era building, major revamps to all four museum buildings, including the Coats Observatory, and a complete internal redesign to reimagine the visitor experience and double the number of objects on display.

The museum collections will still be available to view at ‘Paisley: The Secret Collection,’ on the town’s High Street, while a temporary Paisley Central Library will open over the winter.

A new learning and cultural hub is constructed on the High St, to open in 2021

Library services will still be available at Renfrewshire’s other 11 libraries and online in the meantime, while public-access PCs will be available at the Paisley.is office at 5a High Street.

The public will have access to the library’s Heritage Centre when it moves to temporary premises at Mile End Mill, Paisley, in November. The library service will also move to premises at Paisley’s Lagoon Leisure Centre, in January and the popular Bookbug sessions will also be held in The Lagoon.

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Councillor Hughes said: “This may seem like the end of an era for Paisley’s wonderful Museum and Central Library but it’s also the beginning of something fantastic that will put Paisley at the heart of the Scotland’s culture and heritage.

“When these doors open again in four years’ time, we’ll have a visitor attraction that will bring people flocking to Paisley.”