Nex

North Galleries

Stair gallery in the British Museum's North Wing, Assyrian reliefs lining the walls beneath a barrel-vaulted ceiling with replacement double-glazed rooflights and a deep green apse wall.
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Arts & CultureHeritageSelected Work

The fabric and environmental renewal of twelve galleries across the British Museum’s North Wing, including the replacement of roofs, roof lanterns and environmental systems.

Sectional model of the British Museum's North Egypt Galleries, showing the pitched roofs and rooflights above the gallery spaces, with services and collection objects marked in blue.
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The North Wing is among the older parts of the British Museum, housing the Egyptian and Assyrian Galleries, the Coptic Corridor, and associated collection stores. Their objects have been displayed and cared for here for nearly two centuries. During that time, incremental alterations left the galleries with poorly insulated fabric and environmental systems no longer suited to the collection.

Nex is enhancing the environmental conditions across all twelve galleries in a coordinated programme of repair and renewal. The existing roofing will be replaced with a high-performance warm roof system, improving the thermal envelope. All rooflights will be replaced with a bespoke double-glazed system, with slim scalloped aluminium glazing bars drawn from the museum's historic lanterns, restoring visual coherence across the galleries. A new space conditioning strategy, carefully integrated into the existing historic fabric, will manage air change, temperature, humidity and CO₂ to international museum standards throughout.

Much of the intervention will be invisible once complete. The galleries will have repaired fabric, steadier environmental conditions and consistent daylight control across the North Wing.


ClientBritish MuseumDate2026LocationBritish Museum, LondonStatusStage 4TeamAlan Dempsey, Joe Dent, Kyle Mcguire, Edmee Orombelli, Lawrence Lynch, Ruoning WuCollaboratorsStructural Engineer: ConisbeeMEP & Sustainability: BDPProject Management: McBainCost consultant: AECOM
Drawings
Site plan of the British Museum with the North Wing galleries picked out in grey, the Round Reading Room visible at the centre of the plan.

Site plan

Roof plan of the British Museum showing the Great Court and Round Reading Room at its centre with the North Wing galleries running along the top of the plan.

Museum roof plan

Roof plan of the British Museum North Egypt Galleries, twelve pitched rooflights arranged in a row above the galleries below.

North galleries roof plan

Long section through the British Museum North Wing, the sequence of galleries beneath a run of pitched rooflights spanning the length of the enfilade.

Long section through the galleries

Detail section through the North Egypt Galleries at the British Museum, revealing the pitched roof structures, glazed lanterns and vaulted ceilings above the galleries below.

Detail section

Section through a single rooflight at the British Museum North Egypt Galleries, showing the pitched glazed lantern above the gallery cornice.

Rooflight section

Detail drawings of the bespoke rooflight glazing at the British Museum North Egypt Galleries, showing ridge, eaves and glazing bar profiles at full scale

Glazing details

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Round Reading RoomBritish Museum
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Entrance and East Hall GalleriesScience Museum