Museum works pose opportunities in construction

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The government has sanctioned extra spending of £44M to maintain and expand Britain’s national museums and art galleries following public pressure to invest more money in the digital, culture, media, and sports department.

The investment is welcomed by the construction sector in providing more opportunities after public spending cuts in recent years hit capital budgets for museum construction.

One of the projects to utilise the extra spending includes the British Museum which will use an additional £12.5M to issue repairs over the next two years, as means of improving fire safety, and will likewise spend an additional £2M for office alterations at the British Museum’s building on 38 Russell Square. Construction of which will begin in early 2020 by Forcia, who has been appointed as the fitting out contractor.

Furthermore, the British Museum will be modernising 3,000 rooms at their Great Russell Street building under the £4.1Bn British Museum Major Refurbishment.

Another project to make the most of the government’s investment is the Imperial War Museum in Southwark, London which has had plans approved for a £3.3M development of a three-storey building and landscaping, which will begin in autumn.

Also, the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in East London will receive a £13.5M redevelopment in the spring of 2020 while the Victoria and Albert Main Museum, in Kensington, will obtain a £2.25M refurbishment later this year.

Further north, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester will receive a £6M investment to replace the roof while the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool will receive £3.5M for construction on the roof and in the interior of the building.

The York Castle Museum will likewise gain a £1M redevelopment fund so that seven months of construction works may being in early 2020 while under the same refurbishment scheme, the ‘Gateway to Medieval England Castle Keep Development’ scheme, Norwich Castle Museum will receive an £8M, two-year refurbishment contract.

The ‘Gateway to Medieval England Castle Keep Development’ scheme is worth £13.5M and is mostly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Natural History Museum will see a £5.5M worth of funding for construction works to its Ornithology Building in Tring and the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland has appointed BAM Construct UK to carry out £7M worth of refurbishment this autumn.

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