Developing London’s Heritage – The New London Museum

Museum of London – Construction Manager Role – Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM)

Developing London’s Heritage – The New London Museum

Background

The Museum of London are creating a new £340M museum in dilapidated market buildings in Smithfield by 2026. The new museum, once complete, will comprise over 26,000 square metres. The ambition is to create a museum that is truly London, that is appealing and meaningful for the diverse population of London and for visitors from across the UK and the world.

Central to the realisation of this ambition was the need to appoint a high calibre Construction Manager who would bring not only their technical expertise and experience but also a passion to share in the creation of what will be a new landmark cultural attraction for London. SRM were immensely passionate about securing this contract and they appointed WaND to help them succeed.

Challenges

The project itself is unique, described as ‘one of the most ambitious and complex cultural projects in Europe’ – effectively two separate, but interlinked and intertwined, projects in one – underpinned with intricate heritage issues, challenging stakeholder/third party interfaces and complex works across many packages. SRM would not only have to demonstrate a clear understanding of the scope, challenges and requirements, but also their capability in delivering high quality works supported by robust management, quality control processes and a thorough understanding of the Project’s overall programme and required sequencing.

How WaND provided support and outcome

WaND were asked to support SRM on two fronts. Firstly, by undertaking a critical review of their technical bid responses prior to submission – providing detailed advice on how the responses could be improved. It was obvious SRM had a compelling bid and WaND’s role was to ensure this was presented in the most effective manner.

Secondly, WaND were invited to run a ‘mock’ presentation session with SRM. Following submission, SRM were required to present their technical solution and answer clarification questions. By undergoing this mock session, SRM gained valuable experience and feedback – including exposure to similar questions they subsequently faced from the Museum of London team.

SRM were successfully awarded the high-profile contract in May 2023.

“We were supported by WaND on our tender for the Museum of London in late 2022. Although we knew we had the experience, technical capability and people to successfully deliver the scheme, WaND played a vital role in the tendering process in making sure that we articulated ourselves clearly and presented the best version of our business in our tender and the post tender presentation. Their team of associates are diverse in background and experience and therefore their advice comes from a different but relevant perspective. WaND clearly understand all of the public sector mechanics and procurement processes – specifically in the Defence sector but their hand can be applied across all public sectors – and I would highly recommend their services.” William Lunn, Work Winning Director, Sir Robert McAlpine

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We have a number of informal strategic partnering arrangements with other sector specialists and often work alongside them when supporting a client as our services are complementary. These include Cargyll, Akerlof, Electi, SecureConstruct and HLM Architects.