One of the world’s largest research facilities planned to host 28m scientific specimens

The new Natural History Museum (NHM) Collections Research and Digitisation Centre is set to open at the end of the year, with the BBC recently offered a sneak peak inside the building as construction progresses. The highly technical building is designed by Tenderstream member FCBStudios, with fellow Tenderstream members Ramboll and Grant Associates on board as civil, structural and MEP engineer, and landscape architect respectively.

Developed in partnership with the University of Reading and located at the Thames Valley Science Park in Shinfield, the landmark building will house purpose-built storage for around 28m specimens, about a third of the museum’s vast collection. At 25,000 sq m, the centre will be equivalent in size to three football pitches, making it one of the largest collections research facilities in the world. Bespoke storage will house collections of mammals, fossils, non-insect invertebrates, molecular collections, and micropalaeontology. Alina White, a partner at FCBStudios, said to the BBC: "It's quite unusual that we've had to design doors wide enough to take a whale's skull to go through, and tall enough to have a giraffe come through, as well!"

The centre is designed as a light-filled, uplifting working environment, while also creating opportunities for the public to engage with science and the collections. The building itself will be energy-efficient, a net-zero carbon building in both construction and operation and will sit in a landscape designed for nature. Planted with native trees and shrubs, and wildflower rich grasslands, the project aspires to deliver a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) of 20%.

NHM Director Dr Doug Gurr stated: “The potential for this centre is boundless, from helping protect and restore critical habitats to finding the critical minerals to support the energy transition – it could even prove pivotal in preventing the next global pandemic.”

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

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