The successful opening of the Science Museum’s Information Age gallery recently by the Queen was a great testimony to the professionalism of BECK which, following a competitive tender, took on the role of principal contractor.
Covering 2,500 sqm, the gallery is the museum’s largest and most ambitious project to date and the opening of the gallery had been eagerly awaited since its plans were announced by the Science Museum in 2012.
On 24 October, Her Majesty The Queen opened the new Information Age gallery by sending her first tweet.
It read: “It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.”
As the principal contractor, BECK were responsible for the management of the entire site including client direct appointed sub-contractors whilst undertaking exhibits in house and working with specialist suppliers and contractors to complete and deliver the works.
“It was a great honour for BECK to be part of the team delivering the project and continue to work in our iconic National Museums,” said Graham Wakeford, BECK Managing Director.
The involvement in the Science Museum project has been central to their grass roots focus.
“BECK have always maintained their passion for the “Best of British” projects; the Information Age gallery is testament to this and one of a several major UK projects to be completed by BECK this year.”
The gallery, which celebrates more than 200 years of innovation in information technologies and communication, reveals the personal stories about how our lives have been transformed by these innovations.
Information Age is divided into six zones which are identified by the imposing state of the art interactive “Story Boxes”.
The project features over 800 unique objects, many of which have never been seen before and are mounted on open display and within the conserved showcases, identified by over 250 labels and graphic panels.
The gallery uses a combination of fantastic materials and interactive technologies, bringing together the wonderful stories of our communication networks from the telegraph in the 19th century to the modern social network today.