The British Museum - Southwest Energy Centre
The British Museum - Southwest Energy Centre
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.
Despite the prominence of the Bloomsbury estate and its collection, the museum faces challenges in its infrastructure. The South-West Energy Centre (SWEC) project has been initiated to address these issues, aiming to enhance energy supply, phase out the use of fossil fuels, rationalise service distribution, and provide resilience for the Bloomsbury estate, ultimately supporting the Museum’s broader mission and masterplan.
Acting as engineers, we have been advising on all stages of the project, which will deliver transformational, sustainable change through limited, strategic intervention in discrete areas of the campus.
Designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, the energy centre will deliver estate-wide carbon reductions of 45%, while building on only 1.8% of the site’s footprint. This “keyhole surgery’ will end the museum’s reliance on gas fossil fuels for heating, instead utilising the latest all electric water and air source heat pump technology. Once operational, it will result in an estimated net saving of 1,700 tonnes of CO2 annually, the equivalent of 3,400 return flights between London and Glasgow.
Client: The British Museum
Architects: Wright & Wright
IMPACT
Path to net zero
The new energy-efficient heating and cooling systems installed through the Energy Centre Programme will:
End the Museum's reliance on gas fossil fuels for its primary heating system.
Eliminate the direct carbon emissions produced by existing gas boilers.
Result in an estimated annual net saving of 1,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide – equal to 3,400 return flights between London and Glasgow every year.
Provide capacity for and enable the rollout of more energy efficient infrastructure across the Museum during the rest of the Masterplan and beyond.
Protecting the Museum and the collection
Updating the ageing infrastructure will reduce fire and flood risk, and dramatically improve the Museum's capacity to deliver energy where it is needed.
The new Energy Centre buildings will be designed to integrate seamlessly with and preserve the Museum's architecture.
Museum infrastructure maintenance will be improved and streamlined, with equipment that is rationalised, more accessible and easier to maintain.
Significant cost savings long term
Investing in sustainable infrastructure now will result in significant savings in the long term.
It will provide the Museum with increased financial stability, resilience, and value for money by reducing operational costs and avoiding increasing maintenance costs for outdated infrastructure.