Ashmolean Museum opens to the public after £61m refit
Media
17/11/2009
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford has reopened to the public after a £61m refit, led by a Mace project and programme management team. The project comprised the redevelopment of a Grade 1 listed building that stands in a land-locked position in the middle of Oxford city centre.
Designed by Rick Mather Architects, the new museum provides significantly upgraded environmental conditions for artefacts, improved access and navigability and a new education department with enhanced facilities.
The building has been extended several times since the turn of 19th Century to house the ever-expanding collections, but now the exhibition space has doubled as a result of the refit. The revamped building will house the Ashmolean's astonishing collection of art and archaeological artefacts.
Prior to demolition, 50,000 of the museum's artefacts had to be moved to an off-site storage facility. The project team also contended with a compact construction site and the challenges posed by being in close proximity to colleges, libraries and local residents.
The refit was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and represents one of the largest museum projects ever to be undertaken outside London.
Mace lead project manager Steve Tighe said: "The whole team need to be congratulated and feel rightly proud of the huge volume of achievement and transformation that took place during the last two months of the project. This demanded a high volume of planning and coordination between the museum and the contractor. Mace fostered a project environment of trust and collaboration in order to make this happen."
Follow the link below to view a video about the opening on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8346978.stm
