NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
Greenwich

TONY WARREN LIMITED

Client  Satisfaction

National Maritime Museum

Fulcrum Consulting

Purcell Miller Tritton

Kone (Focus)

Five new passenger lifts, three new service lifts and modernisation of one existing passenger lift

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To quote the Client’s own website:

The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is planning a major new wing. Scheduled to open in 2012 in time for the London Olympics, the custom-designed exhibition spaces and highly accessible archives will drive a sea change in the way the Museum presents its programme to an ever-growing volume of visitors, both from within the UK and internationally.

This new wing is funded to the tune of £20M by Mr Sammy Offer KBE, the international shipping magnate and philanthropist, and bears his name.

It is not only the fact that Greenwich is a World Heritage Site that makes this project interesting. The main public lift is of the bespoke traction ‘machine room-less’ (MRL)  scenic type within a glazed enclosure. Apart from the usual challenges of a panoramic lift (hiding switches, cladding counterweights, etc), there is the additional challenge of making the machine — located at high level in the lift well — less obvious to the general public.

Among the other eight lifts on the project is a large goods lift, 6500mm wide x 3000mm deep x 4000mm high. With 6000mm wide x 4000mm high power operated ten panel centre opening sliding doors, it would seem that the lift needs turning through 90° (at a saving of £80,000) however this unusual layout means that the exhibits of unusual sizes can be moved from lorry to lift in the loading bay with minimal manoeuvring.

© 2010 TONY WARREN LIMITED