Work starts on River Mersey U-Boat museum project in Birkenhead

Demolition will start on Monday, January 6 to make way for a new museum on the banks of the River Mersey. The new Battle of the Atlantic U-Boat museum is expected to open next year.

The project led by Big Heritage CIC will see a brand new attraction next to the Woodside Ferry Terminal in Birkenhead and is part of a nearly £20m Levelling Up bid to transform the area. Eventually Wirral Council hopes to encourage the development of 1,700 new homes, hotels and other attractions in the area.

Birkenhead-based Technical Demolition Services has been appointed to oversee the works, with Big Heritage confirming work on taking down the old U-Boat Museum building will start on January 6. The new museum is expected to open in spring 2026.

The Battle of the Atlantic Museum is not the only museum Big Heritage is planning to reopen as it was awarded £5m to redevelop the Wirral Transport Museum. The transport museum is also expected to open in 2026 with both to be connected to Big Heritage’s Western Approaches museum in Liverpool.

Big Heritage CEO Dean Paton said: “We are thrilled to be taking this first step towards delivering an exciting new cultural offer of international significance for Birkenhead. The people of Birkenhead played such a crucial role in this conflict, and is a fitting home therefore for this brand new museum.”

[Dean Paton]

The German U-534 submarine housed at Woodside sank towards the end of the Second World War after four years at sea when it was hit by a Royal Air Force bomber plane north east of the Danish island of Anholt. 49 of the 52 on-board survived and it is one of only four surviving U-boats.

After 48 years under water, it was raised from the seabed in 1993 and was cut into four sections. In 2007, it was used to create a museum next to the Woodside Ferry Terminal in Birkenhead by Merseytravel.

The U-boat museum later closed but Big Heritage are hoping to reopen it as a “world class visitor destination” with an education centre, three-storey museum, and a memorial site for the Battle of the Atlantic, a military campaign to keep goods being imported into the UK. According to plans approved by Wirral Council, it will include a riverside café, viewing platform, and new public spaces with the museum “designed as an immersive visitor experience.”

Wirral Council’s regeneration committee chair Cllr Tony Jones, said: “It is fantastic to see work about to get under way on the new museum which I have no doubt, when completed, will become a popular and highly regarded attraction, as well as recognising the contributions of local people in the Battle of the Atlantic. As well as playing a significant part in the council’s wider proposals for Woodside this will help us capitalise on this unique location while delivering real people-focused regeneration and improvements for local people.”

By Ed Barnes – Local Democracy Reporter