Feilden Clegg Bradley wins £58m Liverpool museums job

The architecture firm has landed the contract to revamp the International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum, creating a new entrance, improving circulation and exhibition spaces, and adding a link bridge between the Dr Martin Luther King Jr building and the Hartley Pavilion.

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio’s award comes after National Museums Liverpool terminated the contract of the previous architect, Adjaye Associates, last year. The decision was made after the firm’s founder, Sir David Adjaye was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Adjaye’s lawyers have consistently denied the allegations.

The £58m NML project is already in the middle of the RIBA Stage 3 process. As the new project architect, FCBS will work alongside exhibition design lead Ralph Appelbaum Associates to progress the project through the remaining RIBA stages.

“To be bringing two such visionary designers with international reputations to the project represents the bold ambition and thinking behind it,” said Laura Pye, director of National Museums Liverpool, about FCBS joining forces with Ralph Appelbaum on the project.

“We are delighted they’re keen to embrace this as a co-production project which we feel will create something truly ground-breaking,” Pye continued.

FCBS partner Kossy Nnachetta is leading the architect’s team, which includes fellow partners Geoff Rich and Peter Clegg. FCBS previously worked with NML on its 10-year Liverpool masterplan, which was completed in 2019.

The design team includes Peter Clegg, Kudzai Matsvai, Kossy Nnachetta, Geoff Rich, and Ilze Wolff. Credit: Pete Carr

Nnachetta said the studio was “excited and humbled” to work on the two museums.

“We understand that there is a huge responsibility to help create a platform to tell this story, long whispered, yet still awaiting the space to fully express itself; and all the potent, deep-seated emotions it can elicit,” Nnachetta said.

“We hope to help create something bold and yet beautiful. The result of ‘many hands’ working together with the museums and communities in Liverpool.”

Helping to produce the designs for the two museums will be a team from the University of Liverpool School of Architecture, including Professor Ola Uduku, Profesor Ilze Wolff, and architectural designer Kudzai Matsvai.

Pye expressed her enthusiasm for the project, which is funded partly by a £9.9m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.

“There has never been a more important time to address the legacies of the transatlantic slavery and the redevelopment of the International Slavery Museum symbolises our, and our region’s, commitment to confronting the significant role the city played in British imperialism,” Pye said.

“Alongside the revitalisation of the Maritime Museum and the wider Canning Dock development, which will bring a renewed focus on Liverpool’s rich maritime history and communities, the project will create a holistic exploration of the heritage of the Liverpool waterfront, as well as a world-class visitor experience.”