Purcell Miller Tritton architects to lead Story Museum development in Oxford

The Story Museum has appointed architects Purcell Miller Tritton to head the design team responsible for transforming its Oxford site into a world-class visitor attraction and learning centre.  The first phase of the project, with construction costs estimated at £3.5m, is due for completion in 2014 - the year that Oxford is bidding to become Unesco World Book Capital.

The competitive tender, conducted through the OJEU process, attracted 64 expressions of interest. Eight firms were shortlisted: Hawkins Brown, Levitt Bernstein, Edward Cullinan Architects, Pippa Nissen, Pringle Richards Sharratt, Purcell Miller Tritton, Ash Sakula and Foster Wilson. Three firms - Hawkins Brown, Pringle Richards Sharratt and Purcell Miller Tritton - were selected to progress to the final stage, which involved an interview, creative workshop and presentation to Story Museum trustees and stakeholders.

Story Museum capital project director Tish Francis said: “This is a unique and unusual project. We were hugely impressed with the range and quality of practices coming forward. It was a very tight call between those making the final cut. Our criteria called for a strong sense of engagement with and excitement about the overall vision, and all the shortlisted applicants demonstrated a real connection with the concept.”

Kim Pickin, chief executive, commented: “The Purcell Miller Tritton team, led by Niall Phillips, are clearly skilled designers, able to work with a sensitivity to the needs of young and adult visitors through referenced projects such as the Michael Morpurgo’s awardwinning Lower Treginnis Farm for City Children at one end of the scale and Cardiff Castle and Sheffield’s Weston Park Museum at the other. They are also practical and supremely conscious of our need to forge inventive and creative solutions within tight financial parameters. In the final session, we were particularly struck by their performance in the creative workshop and the resonance between a number of their visual design references and our own.”

Said Niall Phillips, project leader, Purcell Miller Tritton: “We are delighted to be part of this unique and prestigious project, particularly as we understand that the other submissions were all of such high quality. The brief captured our imagination and we are incredibly excited to be working closely with The Story Museum. Combining our own design creativity and understanding of sensitive sites to deliver this landmark venue, we hope to add our own chapter to The Story Museum’s tale.”

The Ramboll Group join Purcell Miller Tritton to provide structural engineering and mechanical engineering services and The Story Museum has subsequently appointed Burke Hunter Adams (Oxford Castle Heritage Centre, City and County Museum, Lincoln) as project quantity surveyors.

This is the first chapter in the transformation of The Story Museum’s 2,000 sq m city centre site, which comprises three linked  - and dilapidated – buildings (including the former GPO) around a triangular courtyard. Initial funding for the project’s enabling and early design stages has been secured, following an anonymous donation in 2009 for the purchase of the £2.2m 130-year leasehold. Now, with the design team in place, The Story Museum is engaged in a major fundraising campaign for the main capital phase.