ONE of the north’s oldest construction firms has won the contract to build a £26 million centre for the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum in London.
The art and design museum, which houses a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects, is adding a new 172,000 sq ft centre at the former London Olympics site in the east of the city.
When completed, the new research centre at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will house 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and over 1,000 archives.
It’s the latest major deal secured in Britain by the Mallusk-based building group. The Co Antrim company is currently on site at Liverpool FC’s new £50m training facility. It was also awarded the design and build contract for the new £55m cruise terminal in Liverpool.
In July, the group reported pre-tax profits of £11.3m for the year to December 31, 2018.
Claire McKeown, who is project director for V&A East, described it as one of the most significant and ambitious developments in the museum’s history.
“Our collection and research centre will be a global first, combining a unique visitor attraction with a working museum store that meets the complex and varied needs of the V&A’s diverse collection," she said.
“It’s an unprecedented and challenging brief, and we were impressed with McLaughlin & Harvey’s ingenious response, particularly their sensitive approach to integrating our large-scale collection objects, architectural fragments and historic interiors into the build.”
Commenting on the V&A contract, McLaughlin & Harvey’s construction director Michael Kieran, added: “We look forward to supporting the V&A in the development of this facility which will allow their unrivalled collections to be stored and explored. This project is part of the V&A’s expansion plans in east London and will take pride of place in our portfolio of work in the south east.”
