The British Museum - Reading Room
The British Museum - Reading Room
We have had a long and successful relationship with the British Museum, working on a wide variety of projects as framework consultants. This has ranged from small, specific projects advising on displaying exhibits to gallery refurbishments and wider-ranging strategic advice.
Designed by Sydney Smirke and opened in 1857, the Reading Room is located at the heart of the museum in the centre of its Great Court. Using cast iron, concrete, glass and the latest heating and ventilation systems, it was a masterpiece of mid-nineteenth century technology and contained 25 miles of shelving and over 500,000 books. Conceived as the central room of the British Library, in 1997 the books were moved to a new building, and in 2007 a temporary structure was built over the desks to transform it into an exhibition space, before being closed in 2013 for more than a decade.
We were appointed as engineers to advise on the restoration and refurbishment of the Reading Room from 2015. In July 2024, the Reading Room reopened to the public, allowing visitors inside for the first time in over a decade. It now houses the Museum’s archive, which is available for students and researchers to access.
Client: The British Museum
Architects: Wright & Wright Architects
Photos: Gareth Gardner and by kind permission of The British Museum