Work is to start on a £5m redevelopment of the Ashmolean Museum's Egyptian galleries after the plans were approved by Oxford City Council.

Rick Mather Architects are behind the designs, which will see the existing ground floor galleries transformed. Beard Construction will deliver the work. The project - backed by Lord Sainsbury's Linbury Trust - will also include the creation of a fifth gallery in a space currently occupied by the museum's shop.

Plans will see the rooms linked by new doorways to allow the Ashmolean's collection to be exhibited under a number of broad themes. The galleries will be closed from 1 January 2011 to allow work to be carried out, with the new facilities due to open in winter 2011.

Ashmolean Museum director Dr Christopher Brown said: "This exciting new project will transform the Egyptian collections - one of the most important and most popular parts of the Ashmolean. "Rick Mather's design for the galleries will allow us to display material that, for reasons of conservation, has not been seen for up to half a century."

Image: Architectural impression of one of the new Egyptian Galleries at the Ashmolean Museum (c) Rick Mather Architects