Redman Design creates interiors for Birmingham museum wing

Redman Design is working on the interiors and exhibition space for the new wing of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Redman was initially commissioned in November 2006 to work with the museum on a 20-year masterplan, which included a bid to secure fundingfrom the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The bid was successful and the project was awarded £4.8m to extend the museum as part of the Birmingham – A City in the Making project.

In October 2008, a formal tender process was launched to find suitable designers for the new exhibition space. Redman was then invited to compete for the project against six other shortlisted consultancies in a creative pitch.

Redman’s business development manager Sarah Neville says, ‘We were commissioned because of the strength of [our] pitch and previous experience working on large-scale projects.

The museum also said that it had enjoyed working with us on the initial HLF bid.’ The new wing will cost £9.7m in total and is scheduled to open in autumn 2012.

Redman’s previous commissions include exhibition design, signage and interactive audio-visual displays for the Museum of Liverpool, Bronte Parsonage Museum and Leeds Museum.

Zelina Garland, the curatorialservices manager at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, says, Redman has proven its ability to deliver – it will tackle designing the groundbreaking exhibition in a new and creative way.’

The consultancy will design the entire exhibition space, including the interiors, signage and interactive displays. The museum’s new wing willinclude 1000m2 of exhibition space and will be split into five galleries. The design budget is approximately £2.2m.

The exhibition will tell the story of Birmingham’s history through a selection of displays that will focus on the city’s industrial architecture, art anddesign, local topography and scientific legacy.

During the first year, the museum will host an exhibition of the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest Anglo-Saxon haul ever discovered in the UK.

The museum extension will contribute to Birmingham’s bid to be the first UK Capital of Culture in 2013, under the banner of Big City Culture.