THE BRITISH Motor Museum has won a top design award.
The Gaydon museum’s Collections Centre scooped a RICS Award (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) in the Tourism and Leisure category (West Midlands).
The Collections Centre, which opened in February, was entered by the main contractors GaillifordTry and beat off strong competition from the Golden Square in Birmingham and Wednesbury Leisure Centre.
All regional category winners of the awards – which recognise the talents of surveyors, property developers, engineers, planners and architects- will now be entered into the RICS Awards Grand Final to be held in London in October.
The £4 million Collections Centre provides a large open space showcase for 250 vehicles from the museum’s reserve collection, along with a conservation and restoration workshops area for the public to view work in action.
The project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, Jaguar Land Rover, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust.
Stephen Laing, Curator at the British Motor Museum, who collected the award, said “The Collections Centre is part of the broader strategy to develop the visitor offer and sustainability of the trust and the museum.
“It is a key part in raising our visitor numbers. There are very few places that the public can look ‘behind the scenes’ at the collections of a major museum, and this project has enabled us to offer this. The building itself is an iconic structure and now combined with the award, is a great opportunity to raise our profile nationally and even internationally.”
David Bowdley, Operations Manager at GaillifordTry said “Being named the RICS 2016 West Midlands Regional Award Winner in the Leisure and Tourism category is fantastic recognition for the team that have been involved in this iconic project.”
Visit www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk for further details.
