Great North Museum

Sector: Museums
Main Contractor: Kier Northern
Architect: Purves Ash

Services
• Lime Plastering
• GRG Bespoke Mouldings

The Great North Museum, set in the grounds of Newcastle University, was formerly known as The Hancock Museum. It opened in 1884 to house the collections of The Natural History Museum. The Grade II listed building was completely refurbished at a cost of £26 million.

Kier Northern instructed Ornate Interiors to undertake the repair and renewal of the lime plastering to the walls and ceilings. The four-month works programme had to be completed over the winter months, which presented a challenge to the craftsmen on site: each coat of lime generally requires around one week to cure, but it is essential to maintain an appropriate temperature throughout the drying period. If the temperature drops too far additional heating and protection is required, but too much heat can cause the lime to dry out too quickly, resulting in shrinkage and cracking. Careful monitoring is therefore required.

The lime/sand mix was delivered to site daily and the horse hair, which serves as a binding agent, was then added on site 24 hours prior to application. The horse hair cannot be added sooner as the alkali lime will weaken the hair by attacking the protein. Thus the craftsman’s understanding of the building, the materials and the setting process are of paramount importance in ensuring successful collaboration with the contractor and other trades.

GRG (Glass Re-inforced Gypsum) mouldings were manufactured in the Leeds workshop and transported to site for installation.

The newly restored 5,500m2 of display area within the museum, includes a planetarium, a large-scale model of Hadrian’s Wall and a life-size T-Rex dinosaur skeleton. The museum was re-opened by HM The Queen.

“The nature and scale of the existing building brought about a whole range of conservation issues that needed to be dealt with in a sympathetic and appropriate manner. This involved an effective collaboration between client, design and construction teams to conserve the fabric and importance of the historic building.”
Michael Atkinson of Purves Ash Architects

 

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