As a Grade 1 listed building with millions of visitors a year, the V&A Museum Kensington, London is a site of significant heritage architecture. The museum is part way through an ambitious development programme. Rooflglaze describe the projects below.
Replacement roofs at The V&A Museum
As a Grade 1 listed building with millions of visitors a year, the V&A Museum Kensington, London is a site of significant heritage architecture. On a site covering over 12.5 acres with 145 galleries it’s the world’s leading museum of art and design, holding collections spanning over 5,000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium. Originally known as the South Kensington Museum, it was re-named the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899 when Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone to the new red brick and stone facade. It now boasts some of the finest Victorian Buildings in Britain.
The museum is part way through an ambitious development programme. Over 85% of the museum’s public spaces have been transformed, improving both access and the display experience for visitors.
Working in conjunction with Facade Engineering and glass experts Eckersley O’Callaghan, Roofglaze was contracted by Coniston Construction to design and install a replacement glazed barrel vault roof for the museum’s iconic Cast Court 46B. It was to span the vast exhibition space 25 metres below and provide the galleries with a sustainable, thermallycontrolled environment appropriate for visitors and exhibits alike.
The Heritage Context
The Cast Courts, opened to the public in 1873, consist of two glazed sculpture galleries and are home to more than 60 of the finest 19th-century reproductions of Italian Renaissance monuments. For the Victorian public, these casts provided a fascinating insight into the skills of Renaissance sculptors.
Cast Court 46B houses one of the earliest and most famous casts is of Michelangelo’s David, constructed by the Florentine cast-maker Clemente Papi in the 1850s. It’s more than five metres tall and was created from hundreds of sections of plaster mould taken directly from the original.
The Problem
The existing 1970s single-glazed laminated glass roof had begun to fail. There was corrosion in the Georgian wired glass and the Courts suffered from both water ingress, heat loss and over-heating. Access to clean the existing roof was problematic and the galleries below had poor light quality as a result.
Design Solutions
Roofglaze proposed a replacement patent glazing system sympathetic to the existing glazing bar design. The Museum’s Estate team took time to explore options, considering both single and double glazing. There was engagement with local authority conservation officer and conservation partners, and engineers had to check that the building had the structural integrity to support a double-glazing design. Roofglaze was able to supply glazing samples featuring remodelled bars and brackets well in advance.
Specification
Over 700m² of new roof glazing was specified to replicate the existing barrel vault layout of the roof and provides the necessary insulation to maintain the optimum environment for the extraordinary exhibits below.
The five-tiered barrel vault layout has a dual-pitch lantern at the apex with vertical glazed infills.
It is constructed from an aluminium framed, thermally enhanced, self-supporting rooflight system, SpanGard, manufactured by the Lonsdale Metal Company.
Details:
• ThermGard patent glazing bars and aluminium presswork polyester powdercoated in Iron Grey (RAL 7011) for an appropriate finish with long term weatherability
• Double-glazed, hermetically sealed units with high performance 6mm 70/37 solar controlled heat soaked tested toughened glazing outer panes and 6.8mm inner panes for all sloped surfaces
• 4mm thick clear toughened soft coat Low-E glass for vertical glazing
• Box rafter construction with invisible fixings and a low-profile appearance
Installation
There were significant constraints. Many of the enormous sculptures remained in situ during installation. A temporary ceiling was erected to protect the priceless collection.
Access planning with the Estate team was essential. The Museum is open 7 days a week with staff on site from 7am and corporate events until midnight most evenings. As contractors we had to be very responsive to unforeseen events, even unannounced royal visits. The project demanded teamwork and effective communication in order to meet deadlines.
Our choice of type of roof construction meant we were able to keep on-site time to a minimum, completing this complex and demanding project well within schedule.
Roofglaze has a secure manufacturer supply chain to minimise delay and ensure the speedy replacement of matching glass or components. As with any major construction project damages can occur and Roofglaze ensures panes can be swapped out immediately.