Update on the Natural History Museum project
robertb
12/22/2008
Update on the Natural History Museum director’s views regarding the proposed tsunami memorial site.
Memo Natural History Museum / Tsunami Memorial I recognise that this is a difficult time for families who lost loved ones in the Tsunami as the anniversary is this coming Friday. My thoughts will be with you all on that day. I promised Frances MacLeod I would update you following the Museum Trustees’ Board Meeting at the end of November and subsequent events. The meeting was significant in that the Trustees were asked to sign off a modification to the overall budget for the second phase of Darwin Centre, a principal reason for which was the completion of a landscaping plan for the Museum Grounds west of the new building, adjoining Queensgate. The landscaping plan will need planning consent and this is now sought from The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Completion of landscaping before the opening of DC2 in September 2009 will be problematic as the area to be landscaped currently has site huts on it and is a major staging area for deliveries and recant of the Museum collections that are to be housed in the new building. It is for this reason that we have had to say that even if the Museum Trustees were ultimately to approve the siting of the Tsunami Memorial at the NHM, work could not begin until after DC2 is open to the public. I have agreed with Frances MacLeod that our Trustees will receive a presentation on the proposed Tsunami Memorial at their next meeting on 24 February 2009. By this time issues relating to the feasibility of the siting the Tsunami Memorial in the new landscape plan will have been addressed and we will have a clearer picture of the matters Trustees will want to consider. I would expect these to include : · How the siting of the proposed Memorial could be precluded from preventing any future Museum developments; · What the design brief and process for the Memorial will be; · How installation would be managed and paid for; · How the DCMS will guarantee the Museum can recover the ongoing costs of maintenance and cleaning; · How the DCMS proposes to compensate the Museum for the operational costs incurred in making the Memorial accessible to visitors on anniversaries of the event when the Museum is normally closed to the public. Notwithstanding my own views about the siting of the Memorial at the NHM, it is true to say that events during 2008 have significantly narrowed the options for delivery of the project at the Museum, and the Trustees will take very seriously their obligations to ensure that if the Memorial is sited within the Museum grounds, it does not impact on the Museum is any negative way. My view is that it should not be regarded as a foregone conclusion that, even if the logistics of the project can be shown to work for the purposes of the discussion with Trustees, they will give their approval. They will be concerned about making a permanent commitment in an environment where the Museum’s government funding is fixed only for 3 year periods, and the current prospects for 2010/11 and beyond are not positive. They will also be mindful of the permanence of such structures and the possible impact of future plans for the site. For these reasons, I continue to urge Frances to consider with you what fallback, alternative sites remain and how these might be picked up quickly if necessary. Michael Dixon Director
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