Níall McLaughlin
Architects

AUCKLAND CASTLE, TOWER AND FAITH MUSEUM WINS AT THE RIBA NORTH EAST AWARDS

MAY 2024

The Auckland Castle, Tower and Faith Museum has won the North East Building of the Year and North East Conservation Award in collaboration with Purcell.

The project comprises a number of urban and historic interventions: the restoration of the 900-year-old Grade I listed Castle, once home to the Prince Bishops; the Auckland Tower at the key nodal point between the historic Market Place and the entrance to the Castle complex; and the new extension to Castle’s Scotland Wing to accommodate the Faith Museum, which opened in 2023. The project seeks to preserve the Castle’s heritage, promote Bishop Auckland as a visitor destination and initiate regeneration of the town.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PROGRESS

MARCH 2017

Below are some from the Natural History Museum site showing the scaffold ‘tunnel’ going up at the Museum. This is the framework required to lift, manipulate, and move the blue whale skull into position in a few weeks.

Though the main hall has had a sperm whale in it before, this was only around 15m long. In contrast, the blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever existed, is about 30m long once assembled.

Unfortunately, due to the various extensions and alterations to the Museum over time, the skull can only come in via the front doors. And – much like a very large, very heavy, very valuable sofa – it’s a case of squeezing it in at strange angles.