Funding experts Focus Consultants assist in £11.5m Heritage Lottery Fund grant for National Army Museum

A team including East Midlands-based Focus Consultants has played a key role in confirming an £11.5million Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant for the National Army Museum (NAM) in London. 

The company, which specialises in putting together funding bids and packages for arts, heritage, culture, leisure and regeneration projects, played a project management role in the successful application to the HLF. 

The grant will help fund the Museum’s ambitious Building for the Future project, which will enhance the Museum’s onsite, offsite and online elements. 

Focus has now been reappointed to deliver this project, which is due to complete in 2016. With its headquarters in Nottingham and offices in Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, and in Holborn, London, Focus has been appointed as project manager, quantity surveyor, CDM coordinator and contract administrator for the improvements. 

“This is a significant appointment for Focus Consultants to help redevelop a national museum that is aspiring to raise its profile on the international stage,” said senior consultant Eleanor Clarke. “It’s the latest in a considerable number of important museum contracts that Focus has secured, and we are looking forward to continuing our involvement in such a high-profile project.” 

The Building for the Future project will focus on four key areas, looking to: 

·         Revolutionise the visitor experience. A major restructure of the building and overhaul of Museum displays will create a more welcoming and engaging experience. 

·         Improve conservation of and access to the Collection. Consisting of over a million items, the Collection will be housed in new, environmentally controlled stores. 

·      Establish an ongoing programme of learning and outreach. Deliver an extensive programme of outreach across the country, opening up the Collection to over half a million people during 2014-16. This will be made possible through a range of partnerships including the pre-existing national network of 136 regimental military museums. 

·       Embed new working models of service delivery and public engagement. The project will enable NAM to redesign the way it works to become more audience focused and commercially sustainable. 

The £11.5 million HLF grant makes up half of the total project cost of £23.25 million. The remainder has been raised through the fundraising efforts of the museum and its supporters. 

Janice Murray, the director general of the National Army Museum, said: "We are delighted to have secured this major grant, and have already made steps towards implementing this hugely exciting project. Thanks to the help of the HLF, we will be able to enhance the museum's unique offering for our ever-growing audiences, ensuring we showcase and make available our outstanding Collection all over the country." 

Focus Consultants, which has assisted in applications for more than £925million of grants for clients over the past 20 years, is working alongside BDP, who are leading the design team for the project and Event who are the exhibition designers.

For more information about Focus Consultants visit www.focus-consultants.com

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

National Army Museum contract for Focus Consultants

Nottingham-founded Focus Consultants has been appointed project manager for a prestigious multi-million redevelopment at the National Army Museum in Chelsea.

It is the latest museum contract won by the firm, which has also been appointed to the role of cost consultant on the project.

The Building for the Future renovation aims to radically transform the National Army Museum’s offer to provide visitors with an enhanced museum experience.

Partner at Focus Richard Aston said: “This is a prestigious and important development. The team at Focus Consultants is delighted to be involved in such an exciting and inspirational project.”

The National Army Museum (NAM), based in Chelsea, London, has received initial support for a £11.3m Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid, including £350,000 of development funding, for the Building for the Future project, which is aimed to be complete by 2016.

Focus Consultants, whose head office is based in Phoenix Business Park, Nottingham, and with offices in Holborn in London, Leicester, Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, has worked on many high-profile museum developments across the UK.

These include the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, which was named UK museum of the year in 2012 by the Art Fund charity, and SeaCity in Southampton, which opened earlier this year – a century after the Titanic set sail from the city – as well as the £25m Mshed in Bristol.

The firm was also project manager for the £5.4 million refurbishment of Tudor House Museum in Southampton, which picked up the conservation project award at the 2012 RICS South East region awards, and went on to be named as the overall project of the year for the region.

Other members of the NAM team include interdisciplinary designers BDP and exhibition designers Event Communications.

BDP and Event Communications will bring their expertise together to reconfigure the building to provide greater public access and facilities, improved learning spaces and create innovative and exciting new gallery spaces. The team will work alongside NAM’s internal team to update and reinterpret the story of the British Army and to present the museum’s collection.

Focus Consultants will be working with all partners to oversee and ensure the smooth running of the venture.

Janice Murray, director-general of the National Army Museum, said: “We are excited by this collaboration and I am confident that we will produce a world-class museum development, which will deliver a fresh, informative and exciting visitor experience for all.”

The National Army Museum opened on its current site in 1971 to house the national collections of the Land Forces of the Crown, and now receives more than 270,000 visitors a year.

The project provides NAM with the opportunity to upgrade the existing site to meet the needs of its growing audiences.

During the redevelopments the museum will deliver a diverse outreach programme of travelling exhibitions.

Focus Consultants specialises in creative approaches to securing funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its creation in 1994, Focus has secured over £800 million of grant assistance, and delivered more than £1 billion of projects and programmes.

It works across a range of sectors including heritage, arts and culture, education and tourism.

Visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued Nottingham-based PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

About the National Army Museum: The National Army Museum explores the impact of the British Army on the story of Britain,Europe and the world; how Britain's past has helped to shape our present and our future and how the actions of a few can affect the futures of many. The National Army Museum was established by Royal Charter to tell the story of the Land Forces of the Crown wherever they were raised. Opened by the Queen in 1960, it moved to its current site in Chelsea in 1971. www.nam.ac.uk

About the Heritage Lottery Fund: Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) aims to make a lasting difference for heritage, people and communities across the UK and help build a resilient heritage economy. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditions, we invest in every part of our diverse heritage. HLF has supported more than 33,000 projects with more than £5billion across the UK. www.hlf.org.uk