Rooms 41 to 46 Refurbishment, The National Gallery
One of a rolling programme of projects carried out by the National Gallery to replace and upgrade the roof structures of the main gallery spaces. Rooms 41 to 46 are the most popular in the Gallery, containing the 19th Century Impressionist Collection, as well as the Van Goghs and the French Academy paintings. These rooms are part the 1834-38 first phase of Gallery site. The roofs and main floors were largely rebuilt in 1912, using the Khan reinforced concrete system, and then in 1970s and 1980s the glass and concrete roofs were covered over by new single glazed outer roof structures.
However, the performance of these later structures left much to be desired, with issues of solar gain, cold bridging, and condensation. The objective of this project, carried out in three phases between 2015 and 2017, was to replace all of the inner and outer glazing, install exterior solar control louvres, and to generally refurbish all of the fabric. It required the realignment and improvement of all the outer roof structures, as well as the survey and conservation of the historic 1912 concrete frame.
As well as designing and conserving the permanent works, we were also responsible for the strategy and detailed design of the temporary roof and access structures over one of the most sensitive and problematic locations in Central London. The temporary roofs had to be erectly and dismantled largely by hand, and provided environmental protection to over 1,500 square metres for the full two year period of the project.
Client The National Gallery
Architect Purcell
