A team including East Midlands-based Focus Consultants has played
a key role in confirming an £11.5million Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant for
the National Army Museum (NAM) in London.
The company, which specialises in putting together funding
bids and packages for arts, heritage, culture, leisure and regeneration
projects, played a project management role in the successful application to the
HLF.
The grant will help fund the Museum’s ambitious Building for the Future project, which will
enhance the Museum’s onsite, offsite and online elements.
Focus has now been reappointed to deliver this project,
which is due to complete in 2016. With its headquarters in Nottingham and
offices in Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, and in Holborn,
London, Focus has been appointed as project manager, quantity surveyor, CDM
coordinator and contract administrator for the improvements.
“This is a significant appointment for Focus Consultants to
help redevelop a national museum that is aspiring to raise its profile on the
international stage,” said senior consultant Eleanor Clarke. “It’s the latest
in a considerable number of important museum contracts that Focus has secured,
and we are looking forward to continuing our involvement in such a high-profile
project.”
The Building for the
Future project will focus on four key areas, looking to:
·
Revolutionise
the visitor experience. A major restructure of the building and overhaul of
Museum displays will create a more welcoming and engaging experience.
·
Improve
conservation of and access to the Collection. Consisting of over a million
items, the Collection will be housed in new, environmentally controlled stores.
·
Establish an ongoing programme of learning and
outreach. Deliver an extensive programme of outreach across the country,
opening up the Collection to over half a million people during 2014-16. This
will be made possible through a range of partnerships including the
pre-existing national network of 136 regimental military museums.
·
Embed new working models of service delivery
and public engagement. The project will enable NAM to redesign the way it
works to become more audience focused and commercially sustainable.
The £11.5 million
HLF grant makes up half of the total project cost of £23.25 million. The
remainder has been raised through the fundraising efforts of the museum and its
supporters.
Janice Murray, the director
general of the National Army Museum, said: "We are delighted to have
secured this major grant, and have already made steps towards implementing this
hugely exciting project. Thanks to the help of the HLF, we will be able to
enhance the museum's unique offering for our ever-growing audiences, ensuring
we showcase and make available our outstanding Collection all over the
country."
Focus Consultants,
which has assisted in applications for more than £925million of grants for
clients over the past 20 years, is working alongside BDP, who are leading the
design team for the project and Event who are the exhibition designers.
For more information about Focus Consultants visit www.focus-consultants.com
Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk
