Museum construction work

Tender description

Norfolk County Council is seeking a building contractor with significant experience of working on Grade 1 listed buildings and a thorough understanding of Scheduled Monument Consent requirements for archaeological recording, undertaking construction within a public building that remains open, and projects of a similar scope and scale. The principal funder is the Heritage Lottery Fund but there are also many other public and private funders. Norfolk County Council is seeking a building contractor to undertake demolition, construction and alteration works at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in 2019-2020. Norwich Castle is a lively heritage attraction with up to 220 000 visitors per annum, including 20 000 school children, and is part of a portfolio of museums managed by Norfolk Museums Service. Norfolk Museums Service has recently secured 8 756 800 GBP from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a transformational project that will see the Grade 1 listed norman stone keep, which is at the heart of the museum experience, transformed back to its former glory as a royal palace. The project will significantly improve the visitor experience by reinstating the Norman principal floor and making the keep a more accessible building. A new gallery of medieval object displays will also be created within the Keep, in partnership with the British Museum. The works consist of internal and external alterations to the Keep involving the removal of existing floor levels and the installation of new floor levels, creation of new gallery space, removal of the existing lift and its replacement with a new lift and stairs to a new roof viewing platform, the creation of new and enlarged openings within the Keep walls and the development of a bridge-link via the eastern elevation. Internal and external alterations outside the Keep will create new museum and schools entrances, revised access arrangements and new café, shop and reception areas. The works involve the erection of extensions above existing development within the perimeter walls of the castle and the installation of a further new lift.