Blue Sky Building scores coup with win at grade II-listed City of London complex
Blue Sky Building has beaten big-name rivals to land the construction management contract for the scheme to overhaul the Barbican Arts Centre.
The City of London approved plans designed by an Allies and Morrison-led team to refurbish and restore the complex earlier this year.
The scheme, designed in collaboration with Asif Khan Studio and engineer Buro Happold, will focus on improving accessibility and sustainability at the grade II-listed Brutalist complex.
In a contract award notice, the City said the CM job had gone to Blue Sky with the deal, set to be worth £5.1m, due to be signed at the end of this month.
The work is due to last until January 2030 with the job also including the possibility of a one year extension.
Blue Sky beat Bovis, Sir Robert McAlpine and McLaren to the job which has an estimated construction cost of £176m.
The City said that Blue Sky will also co-ordinate the submission of a gateway 2 application for the work because the centre is classed as a higher-risk building.
Bovis recently won another arts job let as a CM, with the firm beating McAlpine for work to redevelop part of the Courtauld art gallery in the middle of London.
The Allies and Morrison team’s plans will address a range of longstanding issues at the Barbican including deteriorating fabric and a lack of step-free access to many key areas.
A refurbishment of the Conservatory will entirely replace the structure’s glazing to enable a fully climate-controlled habitat, while adding a new lift and stair to provide step-free access to upper areas for the first time.
The work is understood to require all plants to be temporarily removed from the area, while the popular visitor attraction’s terrapins - which originally roamed wild on Hampstead Heath and were adopted by the Barbican in 2007 - will be rehomed.
A second lift will also be added to the Barbican’s main foyer, improving accessibility to the concert hall and theatre, while other spaces including the lakeside terrace and library will be sensitively refurbished.
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