Balancing heritage and sustainability

The V&A is a family of museums dedicated to the power of creativity. With a mission to champion design and creativity in all its forms, advance cultural knowledge, and inspire makers, creators and innovators everywhere, the V&A is renowned for its ever-evolving national collection of over 2.8 million objects spanning every creative discipline. From ceramics, fashion, furniture, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewelry, glass, and more, the museum provides an unparalleled resource for the study of art and design.

The V&A is committed to sustainability and reducing its environmental impact. Its sustainability goals focus on energy efficiency, waste reduction, and promoting sustainable practices within its operations and exhibitions. They aim to achieve significant reduction in carbon emissions, minimize waste through recycling and responsible resource use, and engage both staff and visitors in sustainability initiatives. The V&A’s efforts include the use of renewable energy sources, use of sustainable materials in exhibitions and buildings, and create awareness of environmental issues through programs and partnerships.

The V&A is targeting net zero emissions by 2035 for Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, and that’s where we come in.

We are a proud and trusted partner of the V&A and have delivered a series of gallery and estate refurbishments over the last six years including the National Art Library roof, Raphael Court, and the Jewellery Gallery.

Our latest project is the Northeast Quarter Roofworks at the V&A South Kensington, where we are providing project management and quantity surveying services, scheduled for completion in September this year. This is a good example of how sequencing planned energy efficiency improvement works, in this case through fabric upgrades, can contribute to both the V&A Museum’s energy reduction and climate resilience targets.

The project replaced two single-glazed roof systems across three key gallery areas within the museum, alongside providing insulation and re-felting of a further two gallery roofs. The new roof system is a double-glazed system in an aluminium frame, aiming to improve the building envelope, energy efficiency and comfort levels, whilst providing future resilience to the galleries below, including solar protection to prevent any impact on artefacts.

The works have been carried out within a live museum environment, open seven days a week. This requires a careful balance to be struck between Grade I listed building restrictions (and the necessary planning and heritage consents), whilst aiming to achieve or exceed current building regulations to ensure the building is future-proofed.

The work demonstrates how carefully managed asset improvements can be made to heritage buildings, improving the environmental performance of the building.

We’re delighted to support the V&A on both their net zero journey and London’s rich culture and arts scene.