Swindon-based construction company Beard has been appointed by the ss Great Britain Trust in Bristol to build its new national Brunel museum.
Beard is working with Bristol-based Alec French Architects on the museum, part of the £7.2m Being Brunel project, which will explore the mind and works of engineering genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel. 
The new museum has been designed to reflect the façade of original buildings that would have flanked the ss Great Britain as she was constructed in her dry dock on the River Avon in 1840, so enhancing the historic accuracy of the dockyard.
The two-storey building will be built alongside Brunel’s historic ship ss Great Britain, already one of Britain’s top-rated museums. Construction work is due to start next month.
Beard, which also has bases in Oxford and Guildford and opened an office in Bristol last year, will construct a harbour-side building that will connect to the historic Dock Office and Brunel’s Drawing Office via a first-floor walkway.
A steel-frame exhibition hall will contain gallery spaces and a mezzanine level, as well as a cafe.
Beard Bristol construction director Mike Hedges said: “It’s a tremendous honour to be involved in the preservation of Brunel’s great legacy through this fantastic interactive new museum which, when completed, will bring Brunel’s genius and extraordinary mind to life.
“This is a complex project where our construction team will be working within a historic dockyard alongside the iconic ss Great Britain, which will remain open to visitors during the building works.”
When completed in February 2018, Being Brunel will be a major new museum and visitor experience that will be a national centre of expertise, sharing Brunel’s life and works.
Being Brunel project manager for the ss Great Britain Trust, Mike Day, added: “The appointment of Beard and the start of construction work is a major milestone for the project. It’s also an incredibly exciting moment, with the striking new building set to take shape over the coming months in place of derelict corrugated metal structures that were recently removed from the harbour-side.”
Beard recently completion a £1.8m visitor centre on Clevedon’s iconic pier, the UK’s only operating Grade I-listed seaside pier.
The building’s glass tea room, which emerges from the existing ramp linking the pier to the shore, offers visitors stunning sea views. The centre, made up of two floors set underground using the existing stone walls with a decked area on the roof, includes toilet facilities and an education and meeting space, all in a modern building which is set down into the ramp.
Privately owned Beard was established in 1892 and has significant expertise in building for the healthcare, arts and culture, commerce and industry, education, ecclesiastical, elderly care, sports and leisure and defence sectors.
Pictured above: An artist’s impression of the Being Brunel museum. Below, the Being Brunel interior. Image courtesy of Easy Tiger
