Contract award notice
Results of the procurement procedure
Section I: Contracting
entity
I.1) Name and addresses
The Trustees of the British Museum
The British Museum, Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DG
UK
Telephone: +44 2073238000
E-mail: procurement@britishmuseum.org
NUTS: UKI
Internet address(es)
Main address: www.britishmuseum.org
I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Recreation, culture and religion
Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title
British Museum Western Range Competition to find an Architect-Led Design Team
Reference number: BM.24.028
II.1.2) Main CPV code
71200000
II.1.3) Type of contract
Services
II.1.4) Short description
Please note this is a Contract Award Notice to announce the conclusion of the procurement it is not a new opportunity.
The British Museum is delighted to launch this international competition to choose a visionary, architect-led design team to work with the Museum to develop an extraordinary design for a significant part of its Bloomsbury site: The Western Range.
This is an important commission to re-envisage and transform key parts of the main, iconic site in Bloomsbury. This will be the Museum’s biggest building project since the 1820s, when work commenced on the original quadrangle.
The ambition is significant: to restore the Western Range and, in so doing, reimagine a third of the existing gallery area, deliver improved collections storage and create new amenities to enhance the visitor experience, making the collection as accessible as possible to all the Museum’s audiences.
II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots:
No
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement
Lowest offer:
28 286 352.00
GBP/ Highest offer:
47 477 472.00
GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
71311000
71312000
71320000
71321000
92521100
II.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS code:
UKI
Main site or place of performance:
LONDON
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Please note this is a Contract Award Notice to announce the conclusion of the procurement it is not a new opportunity.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
The primary aim of this project is to enhance the visitor experience and offer the Museum a series of renewed gallery and collection storage spaces that allow the extraordinary permanent collections to be cared for, researched and displayed for modern audiences. Importantly the Museum is also looking to resolve the current problems it is facing of an overcomplex and constricted site with a dilapidating building stock that is poorly suited to its requirements. The complexity of the site and the scope of work requires the appointed design team to include many different skills, possibly from different organisations. There are three key strands to the work:
BUILDING DESIGN
The new Western Range will include gallery spaces, visitor welfare and circulation facilities, collection stores and research spaces. Each element will need to be sensitively designed within an architecture that respects the existing, while introducing powerful new interventions. The winning team will need to satisfy a range of stakeholders and secure listed building consents, expressed functionality, required adjacencies, ambitious sustainability criteria, and day-to-day requirements for maintenance and maintainability.
VISITOR EXPERIENCE
The interior layout and design of the visitor experience and amenities will play an important role in the success of this project, including arrival, circulation and way-finding routes. The winning team will understand how to create inviting vistas across the site, making best use of natural light, the juxtaposition of internal volumes and passive ventilation to enhance visitors’ enjoyment of the new museum experience. Accessibility and comfort for all is a given and consideration of seating and rest areas will need to be incorporated at the earliest stage of the design.
GALLERY EXHIBITION DESIGN
Given the long-term phasing of this project, the Museum is proposing three gallery exhibition packages for the permanent galleries in the new Western Range: only the first of these is an integral part of this competition brief. The gallery displays that will be included within this first package are dependent on the overall approach to phasing of the project and will therefore be determined, with the successful team, following the completion of RIBA Stage 2 design. Please note that the new galleries may well house different collections, as the Museum’s site-wide redisplay strategy is developed. This means that the winning team will need to include gallery exhibition designers with evidenced understanding of museology who can work alongside the Museum’s own curatorial and content teams and deliver gallery spaces that astound the world within the first phase of work. As well as delivering the designs for the first phase of galleries, the winning team must be able to create a building design that allows future design teams to
insert new galleries into latter phases of the project, allowing for varied creative voices to be involved in the long-term design of the project, ensuring an end-design that is vibrant, integrated and bespoke for each gallery.
The estimated total value of the contract stated in this Contract Notice is derived from an order of magnitude assessment of the construction value of the Western Range programme based on project work to date and must be treated as indicative only. The duration dates for the overall programme are also indicative only and are subject to change
II.2.5) Award criteria
Quality criterion: Quality
/ Weighting: 75%
Price
/ Weighting:
25%
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:
No
II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds:
No
Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Restricted procedure
IV.1.8) Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement:
Yes
IV.2) Administrative information
IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure
Notice number in the OJ S:
2024/S 000-014691
Section V: Award of contract
A contract/lot is awarded:
Yes
V.2 Award of contract
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
11/09/2025
V.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 5
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators:
Yes
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Lina Gotmeh
824 242 259 00029
75 rue de la Fontaine au Roi
Paris
75011
FR
NUTS: FR101
The contractor is an SME:
Yes
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Ove Arup & Partners Limited
1312453
8 Fitzroy Street
London
W1T 4BJ
UK
NUTS: UKI
The contractor is an SME:
No
V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot:
Lowest offer:
28 286 352.00
GBP
/ Highest offer:
47 477 472.00
GBP
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
Section VI: Complementary information
VI.3) Additional information
To view this notice, please click here:
https://www.delta-esourcing.com/delta/viewNotice.html?noticeId=982556207 GO Reference: GO-20251010-PRO-32709430
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Public Procurement Review Service
London
SW1A 2AS
UK
E-mail: publicprocurementreview@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
VI.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
12 Bloomsbury Square
London
WC1A 2LP
UK
VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice
10/10/2025