The Novium Museum Storage Case Study

Relocation

A major project to relocate a local museum in the south of England is currently underway, to be completed later in 2012. The strategy for the new location is to make the displays as flexible as possible so that exhibitions can be changed frequently, giving local people more access to the wealth of the collections.

At the outset Polstore Storage Systems Limited were approached by museum consultancy firm Halahan Associates to design a permanent store collection. At no cost, Polstore drafted up layouts and worked with design concepts many months before being nominated as the official supplier. ‘Polstore were extremely helpful and constructive during the design stages of this project and they eventually won the tender on their constructive approach to the project, ability to listen to the client, their excellent service and appropriate pricing’ says Frances Halahan of Halahan Associates.

“What is interesting about this project was the varied nature of the artefacts to be stored and the many types of conservation grade storage required to do this, both standard and bespoke,” says Adam Lucas, Museum Project Manager at Polstore. “The main shelving system was positioned onto a mobile base system, maximising storage capacity. Within the adjustable shelving Polstore designed a bespoke vertical picture rack. Other media included a wide variety of pull out drawers, varied shelving depths, mobile picture racks, longspan shelving 3500mm high and wall hung picture racks. A bespoke shelving system was also manufactured to house heavy doors”.