About the Project

National Portrait Gallery, London

Refurbishment of 40 grade I-listed galleries and construction of new entrance forecourt, completed in 112 weeks. 

On the client’s largest ever construction project since moving to its current location in 1896, Dermot Bradley needed to leverage every ounce of his expertise, experience and collaborative management approach to refurbish 40 grade I-listed galleries. 

He had to constantly review the programme as the arrival of extra funding ultimately resulted in 630 additions to the original scheme. He completely resequenced to hand over the top two floors of the gallery much sooner than originally planned while structural work was still taking place below. 

He overcame the major vibration challenge of installing the hefty sections of a three-storey-high escalator in an environment where all artworks were fitted with super-sensitive sensors. He constructed a pedestrian footbridge whose sections were so big and heavy they had to be delivered to site in five pieces rather than the planned two, requiring extensive redesign and rescheduling to hold the programme. And he demolished a major supporting wall and placed four eight-tonne box frames for the new grand entrance into position with a fiendish combination of hoists, fixing them in position with over a thousand bolts. 

While he did all this, Dermot still found time for some inspirational value engineering. He salvaged a great deal of teak – a wood that cannot be sourced sustainably today – from six large windows earmarked for demolition and used it to repair existing window frames, skirting, architraves, panels and doors.