Willmott Dixon has won a contract to update key areas of the interior of the National Gallery in London.
Its specialist fit-out arm Willmott Dixon Interiors will refurbish Room 32, the largest within the gallery, as well as parts of the existing basement and ground floor areas.
The new spaces will deliver a modern, flexible office environment for gallery staff, with new meeting rooms and breakout areas, as well as changing the use of several back-of-house rooms.
Work is due for completion in 2020.
The Grade I-listed building, designed by William Wilkins in the 1830s, houses work by artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Constable, Ingres, Monet and Van Gogh. Around 5.5 million visitors come to the gallery each year.
Willmott Dixon Interiors’ project will be delivered in the extended part of the gallery designed by Edmund M Barry that was completed in 1876.
It will be the second major cultural attraction Willmott Dixon Interiors has been appointed to transform in three years, after it completed work in 2016 to refurbish the Grade-II-listed vacant Commonwealth Institute building and create a new home for the Design Museum, adding new galleries, learning spaces, library and office areas across 10,000m² of space.
Willmott Dixon Interiors managing director Graham Shaw said: “We’ll be able to use our track-record of transforming historic buildings, such as the Commonwealth Institute, for the benefit of the National Gallery. Our team are really looking forward to enhancing another London landmark so that it can be enjoyed by millions of people over the coming years.”
“This also further underlines the scope and complexity of work we deliver, illustrated by the Design Museum and Twickenham Stadium, which has seen us deliver over 200,000m² of new interior space in London over the last five years. We’re proud to be helping shape the capital’s future.”
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