Work has started on a new heritage attraction in London, with the £26m (US$37.7m, €33.4m) Postal Museum to chronicle five centuries of social and communication history across Britain.

Now scheduled for early 2017, the Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios-designed Postal Museum has been financed through the Heritage Lottery Fund, Royal Mail and Post Office, in addition to support from a number of individual private donors and organisations.

Haley Sharpe Design (HSD) is handling exhibition design for the museum, which will incorporate varied digital interfaces and medias, along with a selection of artefacts and displays across five interactive zones telling the story of the people who worked for – and whose lives were changed – by the postal service.

One of the attraction’s key features will be the transformation of a disused underground mail line – the Mail Rail – which is being converted to carry passengers through the 6.5m (10.5km) underground network of tunnels.

“We’ve existed as The British Postal Museum & Archive since 2004, with a vision to bring our curious and extraordinary stories to a mass audience. Our new site, new name and the opening up of Mail Rail marks a new chapter in our history,” said Adrian Steel, director of The Postal Museum.

“Our archives contain so many great stories – from the fact that the Post Office used to officially employ cats, to artefacts that evidence some of the greatest historical events of our time, such as the fate of the Titanic and the golden age of Victorian innovation and social change.

“It’s fantastic to have a brand new site – a shop window – to display all of these amazing items that piece together the social history of Britain.”