The Portland Collection Gallery Welbeck Abbey

The Portland Collection gallery is a new purpose-built exhibition space which has been constructed between retained walls of former gallops, within the curtilage of the Grade I listed Welbeck Abbey. The building was commissioned to display one of Britain’s finest private collections of art for public viewing.

Welbeck is a working estate and contains a Grade II registered historic park; at its heart lies Welbeck Abbey. One of the key objectives of the scheme was to integrate and complement the existing visitor facilities on the Welbeck Estate.

Ridge was appointed as Cost Managers at the inception of the project to completion. Our appointment started with assisting the client on selecting a preferred location on the Welbeck Estate, which would provide good access, minimise disruption to their existing operations and reduce financial and programme risk. At this early stage we developed a comprehensive risk register in conjunction with the design team to identify the key risks and how these could be avoided, mitigated or minmised. The risk register was continually updated throughout the life of the project.

  • £4.7 million

    Project value

Once a preferred site was selected and the design developed, we produced numerous Project Estimates with support from our specialist Mechanical and Electrical Cost Managers, the use of our specialist in house Cost Managers proved to be critical due to the extent of Mechanical and Electrical works within the building to protect the artwork being placed in the building.

The Project Estimates allowed us to control the Client’s Total Project budget and provide costed options to enable them to make informed decisions.

The aesthetics and detailing of the design were extremely important on the project,  resulting in a Traditional JCT contract with Quantities procurement being adopted. During the quantification of the Bills of Quantities Ridge identified areas of ambiguity in the design to each member of the design team, resulting in a more coordinated design before tender issue, in turn leading to minimised risk and increased cost certainty.

The new building design incorporates skillful use of natural daylight, extensive passive measures to minimise energy consumption, extremely low-energy design solutions and renewable energy sources. The building provides closely controlled temperature and humidity to meet Government Indemnity Scheme standards.

The project was delivered within budget and on time to allow the exhibits to be displayed within the Client’s required timescales.

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