A Site for Sauriis

A SITE FOR SAURIIS

JANUARY 2017

Our proposal to redevelop the grounds of the Natural History Museum is due to start on site this month. The work to the main entrance – the first of three phases – will introduce level access to this area for the first time while also restoring the Grade-I listed fabric to its former glory.

The works include changing levels, repaving the forecourt, restoring railings, installing planting, and repairing or reinstating original terracotta details across the site.

Ahead of this, the main entrance and central hall of the Museum are now closed while both teams gear up for construction – including some unusual enabling works. As part of these works Dippy the diplodocus has now been dismantled ahead of going on tour around the country; to be eventually recast in bronze for the next phase of our project.

The railings have now been removed for off-site restoration and re-painting:

And scaffolding is also going up for the removal of display cases and various specimens:

This will need to go up again halfway through construction of Phase 1 allow for delivery of the blue whale skull through our active site. Here it is just before it left the Museum.

If you’re wondering how that that will fit through the front doors, the answer’s simple: the same way the elephants do.

Phase 1 is due to complete mid-July ahead of the main entrance reopening to the public shortly after. In the meantime, there’s a pop-up conservation studio in the Darwin Centre – which we highly recommend – where you can see the conservationists at work restoring the whale’s bones.

NIALL MCLAUGHLIN ON DEBRETT’S 500 LIST

JANUARY 2014

Niall McLaughlin has been named one of Britain’s 500 Most Influential People by Debrett’s. The 500 List is a positive endorsement and recognition of achievement and influence. It includes people from across all fields of expertise, chosen by an independent panels of specialists who provide nominations for selections to Debrett’s. Other architects on the list include Zaha Hadid, Richard Rogers and David Chipperfield.

“Niall McLaughlin was first drawn to architecture by the curved windows of the Berkeley Library in Trinity College Dublin. When he first emerged as an architect in the late 1990s he was tipped for great things, winning Young British Architect of the Year in 1998 and recognised as one of the BBC’s Rising Stars in 2001. The Irish-born architect has progressed to exceed all expectations. Garlanded with awards for everything ranging from houses to chapels, McLaughlin is also a very influential teacher in the field at Britain’s most highly-regarded architecture school, the Bartlett. His design of the Bishop Edward King Chapel was shortlisted for the esteemed RIBA Stirling Prize in 2013.”

To view the full list click here