The British Museum: Decarbonising a Historic Estate

Established in 1753, the British Museum was the first public national museum in the world. Over time, its buildings and collections have coalesced into a world class institution dedicated to human history, art, and culture with eight million objects and six million visitors annually. The expansion of the collections in the 19th century is reflected in physical and organisational change through successive phases of building, from austere Greek neoclassicism to the millennial grand projet of the Great Court.

Wright & Wright's ongoing involvement is focused on decarbonising the museum's entire Bloomsbury estate, while addressing issues of strategic planning, fabric repair and the management of its Grade I listed buildings. This programme is set against the backdrop of the global climate crisis, and the collective ambition to realise a net zero carbon future. It was given further impetus by the London Borough of Camden's 2019 declaration that humanity faces a climate and ecological emergency. 

The programme will deliver transformational, sustainable change through limited, strategic intervention in discrete areas of the campus. Designed to achieve BREEAM 'Excellent' rating, a proposed energy centre, will deliver estate-wide carbon reductions of 45%, while building on only 1.8% of the site's footprint. This "keyhole surgery' will end the museum's reliance on gas fossil fuels for heating, instead utilising the latest all electric water and air source heat pump technology. Once operational, it will result in an estimated net saving of 1,700 tonnes of CO2 annually, the equivalent of 3,400 return flights between London and Glasgow.

Like much of the energy system, parts of the museum's fire, flood, and life-safety infrastructure are at the end of their service. The energy centre programme will upgrade critical operational infrastructure, including new sustainable drainage systems capable of accommodating a 1 in 100 year flood event and deliver an overall 40% increase in capacity to withstand the more general effects of climate change. Crucially, this initiative will bestow long term benefits by reducing operational costs and avoiding the increased maintenance associated with outdated systems. All future renovation and renewal projects will be able to take advantage of the resource-efficient infrastructure, including the masterplan development, the subject of an international competition launched earlier this year. This will involve a major remodelling of the Western Range, which currently houses the Greek and Roman collections.

"The British Museum is as much a piece of history as the objects it houses but some of its buildings are now more than 200 years old," said Charlie Mayfield, chair of the museum's masterplan committee. "The masterplan is essential in bringing this ageing building into the 21st century and achieving our aims of reducing our carbon footprint. The path to net zero will be achieved by completely overhauling an outdated energy infrastructure while respecting the historic architecture that is a cornerstone of Bloomsbury."