Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 112
The existing entrance and foyer space of the Sainsbury Wing
already incorporated a series of columns, which Szerelmey
reconfigured to allow for opening up the space. Several of
these were removed, cleaned and refurbished on site before
being reinstalled and extended by one storey height, plus the
installation of a new double height column using French
Chamesson limestone to match the existing. A further
twelve single height columns in Pietra Serena limestone were
installed with a bush hammered finish to the ground floor,
level 1 and the basement – Szerelmey designed and installed
all of the steel backing structure and Unistrut frames for the
columns, as well as the stone.
to the existing and installed to extend the existing wall by
one storey. All the existing historic walls and floors in the
Sainsbury Wing were carefully restored, cleaned and in situ
repairs were made where required.
Additionally, large areas of new Gascoigne Blue limestone
flooring were undertaken to the main reception, basement
and basement link. The team installed terrazzo flooring and
skirting to the WC areas on level 1, the ground floor and
the basement link, honing the terrazzo in situ to provide a
seamless look with bespoke stainless steel trim to shadow gaps
and bespoke moulded skirting to the edges. Further ceramic
tiling was undertaken in the WC areas with associated trims.
During dismantling, one of the columns from the atrium area
revealed a letter written by the late Lord Sainsbury within
it. Lord Sainsbury funded the building of the Sainsbury
Wing in 1990. In the letter he wrote that if his letter had
been found it meant the “unnecessary” columns had been
removed, about which he was delighted. Lord Sainsbury’s
son Mark related that his father and the architects had
greatly disagreed about this element of the design and the
letter was placed in the column as a way of keeping the peace.
The pillars were part of a design by the American architect
Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.
Part of the project involved creating a new subterranean link
between the Sainsbury Wing basement, under the Jubilee
Walk and into the main Wilkins museum building. Whilst
structural works were done by others, Szerelmey enabled
temporary works to the Jubilee Walkway, removing areas of
stone, installing temporary works and reinstalling the stone
from the Sainsbury Wing to allow for water proofing the
slab. The team installed Chamesson limestone cladding to
the basement link and a hanging stone soffit on a stainlesssteel hanging system also to the basement link. Externally
the Jubilee Walk bottle balustrade was removed, refurbished
and reinstalled. The Sainsbury Wing signage was removed,
refurbished and installed to a new location on SFS backing
structure still within the Sainsbury Wing and new lettering
carved above the main Sainsbury Wing entrance.
Due to the reconfiguration of the internal space in the
foyer of the Sainsbury Wing, two storeys of new Chamesson
limestone cladding was installed to the length of the internal
façade of Whitcomb Street, and new Chamesson limestone
cladding with a rusticated finish and profile was matched
Above, Grizelda’s garden with benches, photo courtesy of The National Gallery
I
Conservation & Heritage Journal
110
I
