The Dreamland Trust has appointed Jonathan Bryant as its project director. He will be taking up the post in January 2010.

Bryant will be responsible for implementing Dreamland Margate's amusement park of historic rides at the Kent, UK seaside resort, following the award of grant funding from Heritage Lottery Fund and the government's Sea Change programme. Previous experience has seen Bryant establish the UK's first brewing museum and open a working coal mine to the public in Staffordshire.

In Scotland he led the City of Dundee's renaissance Discovery project as chief executive and on the River Thames set up Henley's River & Rowing Museum, which won the Museum of the Year Award. More recently, he project directed Birmingham's Thinktank Science Centre and for the last five years has been member of British Waterways' senior management team. He is also an active volunteer in the cultural and heritage sector and has served as chair of the Association of Independent Museums, trustee and chair of Dundee's contemporary art gallery, trustee of Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust and, currently, chair of Watermen's Hall Preservation Trust in London.

Chair of The Dreamland Trust, Nick Laister, said: "I would like to welcome Jonathan to The Dreamland Trust. With his excellent track record, I am sure that we will be able to deliver a Dreamland that Margate can be proud of." The Dreamland Margate project is being led by The Dreamland Trust, a not-for-profit company developing a theme park from the past on the Dreamland site. The rides will be built around the centrepiece of the park, the Scenic Railway, the oldest surviving roller coaster in the UK and the fourth oldest in the world.

Restoration work will also be carried out on the Grade II-listed Dreamland cinema building. Other recent Trust appointments include Jan Leandro as Audience Development Officer and Graham Ward as Project Archivist, both of whom also start in January.