The Wallace Collection, Phase 3 Refurbishment

Value: £1,000,000
Duration: 31 weeks
Architect: Purcell
Quantity Surveyor: Alan Pfeffer Associates

The Wallace Collection is a national museum displaying eighteenth and nineteenth century art in the residence of Hertford House, a Grade II listed former townhouse. Coniston were selected as the four-year sole Partnering Contractors. The Phase III works were carried out under this Partnering Agreement.

The Phase III Gallery package involved the refurbishment and conservation of the first floor West Room, Boudoir, Landing and Fernery. The work included very specialist elements such as the provision and hanging of silk wall fabrics, manufactured in France, to closely match those originally used when the building was first constructed.

Specialist gilding was applied to the high-level fibrous plaster features, column capitals, cornices and window shutters in the Boudoir, Landing and West Room. Due to the nature of the work and building fabric at the Wallace Collection, all work is required to be completed to the exacting standards expected by the museum. Parts of the building are Grade II listed structures, necessitating any work to be in keeping with the original building. The Museum also remained open and operational throughout all works.