Being Brunel, the museum alongside Bristol’s SS Great Britain, has been named ‘Best Public Service Building’ in one of the UK building industry’s most prestigious award schemes.
The £7.2m museum, pictured, the world’s only public collection dedicated to the exploring the life and legacy of the engineering genius Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opened around 20 months ago to much acclaim. 
The project team behind the museum had to overcome some serious challenges – not least of which was building it in the historic dockyard alongside the SS Great Britain.
It has already been shortlisted for a major civil engineering award and earlier this year helped the SS Great Britain – Bristol’s number one visitor attraction – land the title of Europe’s friendliest and most-welcoming museum.
Now it has been judged as the UK’s Best Public Service Building in the LABC Building Excellence Awards Grand Final – among the most recognised events on the building industry’s calendar.
The LABC (Local Authority Building Control) represents public service building control in England and Wales – a 3,700 strong network of professional surveyors and technicians.
The panel of expert judges of the awards praised the Being Brunel project team for coping with some difficult conditions.
“This was a unique site to construct new exhibition space as well to refurbish an existing grade II listed building,” they said.
“The access to the site was challenging, especially for the arrival of the piling equipment and the large steel trusses. Even more challenging was that the demolition and construction work took place while the site was still open to visitors.
“The work has sympathetically restored the old dock offices to be part of the museum which includes a link to the new building which houses a café as well as extensive exhibition space. Since completion, the attraction has enjoyed a significant increase in visitor numbers.”
A key requirement for the team behind the project – which included the Bristol offices of Alec French Architects and Beard Construction – was to provide an accessible and exciting museum in a unique location beside Brunel’s historic ship, Bristol’s Floating Harbour and the 1840s Dock Office building.
Integral to this is the recreation and interpretation of the dockyard as an appropriate setting for the SS Great Britain to help visitors understand her historical context and local and national connections.
Project Director Mike Day said: “This award is a real credit to the project team, including, who worked so hard in turning our vision for Being Brunel into a reality. We would also like to thank Bristol City Council, which provided building control services and supported us throughout the project.” 
Alec French Architects director Nigel Dyke added: “We are delighted that Being Brunel has been recognised with this award. It once again shows how successful the SS Great Britain Trust has been in creating a world-class visitor attraction in Bristol and demonstrates its commitment to good quality design sympathetic to its dockyard heritage.”
Being Brunel features six galleries setting out 150 of Brunel’s personal artefacts – many never seen in public before – to provide an unprecedented insight into his life, family, interests and creative mind.
It incorporates the traditional – glass cabinets full of artefacts – with the hi-tech, including a giant head of the famous engineer, pictured, which visitors can walk inside to ‘see’ the workings of his mind. It also won the Leisure and Tourism Project of the Year at the 2019 Michelmores Property Awards.
LABC develops learning, competences, standards and practices and through its network of professionals, advises and supports the construction industry to try to make sure buildings are safe, healthy, efficient and conform with building regulations. It also offers CPD, technical guidance, training, learning, events and guidance to members and the wider construction industry – providing brand awareness, marketing, business development and customer relationship management.
