Thackray Museum of Medicine

The formation of a new lift shaft and central staircase. All new mechanical, electrical and finishes including acoustic ceilings ready for the fit-out contractor to install the Museum’s exhibits in 4 separate Galleries

To ensure that the building could still be used by employees we kept our works separate from the live areas by erecting a full-height temporary partition complete with doors and dust seals. We also highlighted the most disruptive elements and agreed to do these out of hours and at weekends when the Museum was quieter. We also maintained a full emergency fire route through the middle of the site.

The mechanical and electrical services included emergency and IT functionality which was maintained throughout the construction phase. Work had to be planned and a new system put into place next to the existing, Change over from new to old were planned out of hours and at weekends to ensure the museum staff could continue to use the building

The new lift shaft and new main staircase were constructed through the middle of the original Victorian structure and elements of historical importance had to be maintained for conservation purposes in this listed building. Together with specialist temporary works companies, we designed a propping system that used the existing structural walls to carry the propping loads. This avoided the need for strengthening any floors or building temporary foundations in the basement. Having to keep the existing features in place meant that the access to the site area was extremely tight and it was impossible to lift in the required Steel. With our Steel fabricator and an engineer, we redesigned the original steel into smaller sections that could be manhandled. We also reprogrammed the construction sequence to allow certain sections of steel to be used in the propping of the structure

The works had to be carefully programmed to allow the galleries to be phased and handed back to the museum’s fit-out contractor. We had to share the site with the Fit-out Team for many months and a close working relationship was vital. We had weekly meetings with their team. Inducted all their staff onto our site for health and safety reasons and managed all of the interfaces. This was particularly important for the services. We kept control of all the systems to ensure there was a single point of control because of this the Museum was able to save months on the overall programme and open in time for the busy school holiday period.