National property and construction consultancy Wakemans played a
key role in the creation of a new £8.25m heritage scheme,
which will store and provide public access to more than 13 million
historic artefacts.
Wakemans was appointed by the developer, St. Modwen
Developments, and acted as employer's agent, quantity surveyor and
CDM co-ordinator on the Somerset Heritage Centre, which is located
at Langford Mead Business Park in Taunton.
Completed on time and to budget, the Somerset Heritage Centre
offers integrated access to Somerset's archives and local studies
materials making research much easier and a Museums Loans for
Learning service which means schools can borrow artefacts to fit in
with curriculum needs, while all reserve collections are based in
one place for the first time.
The Centre comprises two two-storey buildings providing a total
of 6840m² of floor space.
"Given the nature and importance of the artefacts involved,
which date from prehistoric times to the present day, the buildings
have been purpose-designed to store archive materials and are
environmentally controlled," explains Wakemans associate director
Tony Hooper.