Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is based in Birmingham, UK. The museum and gallery boasts a huge collection of items with international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local history and industrial history.
The museum and gallery is run by Birmingham Museums Trust, the largest independent museums trust in the United Kingdom, which also runs eight other museums around the city.
The Birmingham Museum is located in the centre of Birmingham, UK.
The Museum holds thousands of items, covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery and more…
With an impressive and ever growing collection of art and historic artifacts, and a finite amount of space in an old building, the teams at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery were looking to renovate the interior space and maximise this for both their works of art (paintings, drawings in frames) and other objects within the museum.
Some departments were identified to be moved and offices converted into archive storage space. This would allow easy access to and from the museum and gallery public spaces, making movement of artworks easier and less risky.
After auditing their artworks and other items it was decided that shelving, secure cabinets and art racking would be required to ensure quick access to items, keep their collection safe, plus ensure storage capacity for their existing and future artifacts.
Each of the jobs were submitted to tender and after a competitive process, and based on its teams knowledge, Rackline was chosen to fulfil the brief.
Rackline’s teams visited site to understand the exact requirements of the museum and its teams. The initial consultancy examined the spaces which were to be allocated, together with the proposed items to be stored. This allowed the Rackline planning team to explore the different archive storage solutions and layouts for each area for the building. Below are the agreed layout plans for the different storage areas:
After working closely with the team at the museum several options were supplied, these included secure storage cabinets, secure roller racking and a selection of mobile artwork racking systems to provide the correct storage and environmental conditions for their items. Artwork storage was designed to fit around the architecture of the building (including features such as radiators and doorways) and maximise the capacity of the spaces provided.
It was agreed to install Rackline’s Multitrak bases (fitted with Pro-Libero shelving), Secure Cabinets and two rooms of Pull Out Picture Racking. The mobile shelving was designed with locks for security, and able to be completely closed to protect items from UV light damage.
The Birmingham Museum and Art gallery – Main Entrance
The Museum and Art Gallery has constantly changing attractions.
Collections include: fine art, ceramics, jewellery, natural history and more…
Secure cabinets ensure valuable exhibits and artworks are kept safe.
Multitrak bases are robust, designed to take immense weights.
Roller Racking is lockable to secure and protect items from UV light.
Pull out racking is combined with wall mounted mesh panels to maximise the capacity of the archive storage space.
Stand alone panels avoid radiators and other obstructions and still keep space useable.
Racks are attached to runners built around a rigid structure within the room.
Every bit of space is utilised.
Large numbers of racks were installed in a relatively small space.
Racks are close together to provide a high density archive storage solution.
The installed mobile racking holds items safely, and saves 70% over traditional systems. The racking can be locked shut to remove the risk of UV light damage, and allows fast retrieval of objects. The picture racking, is secure and holds hundreds of artworks. The combination of mobile racking and mesh panels on the walls maximises every bit of space.
To find out more about Rackline’s collection of Storage for Museums and Galleries get in touch.
Equally if you are looking to launch a project that will need consultancy and bespoke manufacturing talk to us about your options.
