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Andrew Burnett |
British Museum to seek ‘vital’ £135m revamp
New design aims to address council’s concerns, but critics still not happy with proposal
WORLD renowned conservationists and top scientists are using basement rooms built for kitchen drudges in the 1700s for their work and are in desperate need of new laboratories, British Museum director Andrew Burnett has told the New Journal.
The Bloomsbury museum is campaigning to sell the idea of a new £135million extension designed by architect Richard Rogers after the original scheme was thrown out by Camden Council’s planning committee in the summer.
Revised plans will be on display this weekend at the museum, and Mr Burnett said the scheme was vital to providing 21st-century workshops for the museum’s teams to ensure they remain at the forefront of conservation and protect the past for future generations.
He said: “We have 50 conservationists and 16 full-time scientists working here, and we are the largest conservation department in the UK, dedicated to improving the look and care of priceless objects.
“Many are forced to work in basements in converted Georgian terraces in Russell Square, which were once kitchens. They do amazing work, in spite of these conditions.”
The Town Hall gave 12 reasons for their refusal of the original scheme, including a statement that said the new extension’s “excessive bulk, scale, massing and inappropriate detailed design” would ruin the look of the Grade I-listed building.
Mr Burnett said this has been countered by tweaking the design – including putting much of the extension below ground to counter the issue of taking light away from the historic Arched Reading Room, which the Bloomsbury conservation area advisory committee had flagged up as a serious problem.
Mr Burnett added that the museum needed a new permanent exhibition space, which the scheme would also provide. Currently, one-off shows are on display in the Reading Room, but this means the room’s stunning architecture – described by Mr Burnett as “one of the finest interiors in Britain” – is permanently covered.
This use of the Reading Room is also logistically difficult – at the recent Hadrian exhibition, many items were simply too large to fit into the space.
The Town Hall has also given the museum consent to use the Reading Room for exhibitions until 2012.
It is a lucrative money-spinner for the otherwise free museum, and means they desperately need to find new areas to host shows.
“We want a purpose- built exhibition space,” added Mr Burnett. “We have conditions imposed on us by lenders regarding such things as temperature control and lighting. This will provide it.”
Another crucial facility the new building would offer is a space for the packing and sorting of objects loaned to other museums.
More than 4,500 items are sent out each year to be shown around Britain – and currently the museum has no dedicated area to pack them up and make sure they are safe on their journeys.
Mr Burnett said: “This too is a pressing need.”
But the new designs still have their critics. The Camden Civic Society’s Hero Granger-Taylor called on the museum to start again.
He said: “I would have been much happier if they had gone to a new architect. A different firm would have helped the museum to look radically at its brief.”
Mr Burnett added that they hoped to submit the scheme to Camden’s planning department in the next fortnight.
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