Sir Robert McAlpine set to be formally appointed to construction contract in coming days
City of London planners have given their backing to amended proposals for the Museum of London’s new home at West Smithfield.
Project architects Stanton Williams and Asif Khan originally received approval for the scheme to relocate the museum from its current Barbican base in June 2020. At that time the project came with a £337m price tag.
On Tuesday, the City’s planning applications sub-committee approved a package of minor alterations to the consented scheme, which will make Smithfield’s General Market and Poultry Market the museum’s new home.
The plans also cover a set of buildings known as the Annexe, which include the Fish Market, Red House and Engine House. Listed-building consent for the grade II Poultry Market has also been secured.
The latest approval includes minor reconfiguration of layouts, roof plant and minor alterations to the external appearance of the buildings.
Stanton Williams, Khan and conservation specialist Julian Harrap Architects won an international design competition for the new museum in 2016.
Sir Robert McAlpine is set to be formally appoint to the building deal in the coming days under a construction management contract with the new site due to open in 2026.
After Tuesday’s planning decision, Museum of London director Sharon Ament said that much of the historic fabric of the West Smithfield buildings would be preserved to create “cavernous and atmospheric” spaces both above and below ground.
She said the spaces would allow the museum to showcase more of its collection and be capable of hosting a broader range of displays, exhibitions, learning activity and events.
The Museum of London’s current brutalist home, designed by Powell & Moya and completed in 1976, is due to close its doors for the final time next month.
It is currently subject to a five-year Certificate of Immunity from Listing that was issued in 2019, however plans to replace the building with a Diller Scofidio & Renfro-designed concert hall foundered and were formally scrapped last year.
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