Watford Museum has teamed up with London-based architects as part of its project to restore the landmark building.

John Puttick Associates has been selected to remodel the Grade II Listed Georgian mansion which has been standing in the Lower High Street in Watford since 1775.

Watford Museum received initial support of just over £175,000 development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) earlier this year for its “Making Connections” project, to help progress their plans to apply for a full grant at a later date.

Now the architects – who have worked on other public buildings including the Grade II Listed Preston Bus Station – will be creating plans alongside the team at Watford Museum and Watford Borough Council to refurbish and extend the building.

The plans are expected to be released to the public as a consultation later this year and the project should be completed by 2020.

Cllr Karen Collett, who represents community, said: “Our museum is a much loved community hub but our building needs caring for and we want to be able to tell the story of our town in an engaging and accessible way for all of our visitors, to inspire pride and identity in our town.

“We are really looking forward to John Puttick’s expertise in capturing our vision.”

Mr Puttick added: “We are excited to work on a building that is very much about the enjoyment of public spaces.

“It is also a real privilege to work on such an important cultural project in Watford.

“Local museums are particularly interesting projects as they build on the heritage of a particular place and its people. Architecturally they are very much about identity and civic pride.”

Since 1981, the museum has showcased over 30,000 historical items that are relevant to the town of Watford and relate to the people that have lived and worked here.

The museum’s collections cover local history, archaeology, art and costume from prehistory to the present day, along with paintings by J M W Turner, Peter Lely and Joshua Reynolds.