case studies
leisure - national gallery
graefe masterpieces hung in national gallery
Fairhurst Ward Abbots (FWA) is contracted with the ongoing maintenance and refurbishment projects within one of our capital city’s most prestigious institutions, the National Gallery. The original building, designed by William Wilkes, was opened in 1830.
Successive wings have since been added, one of which, designed by H N Hawkes and badly damaged during the blitz, has recently been completely refurbished by FWA. The wing, in contrast to its original Victorian décor, has a new, highly modernistic, contemporary style.
With artwork constantly being moved from gallery to gallery, all doors need to be an enormous 3.6m high. Creating such oversized doors was fraught with technical difficulties associated with their sheer size. Due to the valuable contents of the galleries, each is also needed to be one hour fire rated door. FWA, familiar with Graefe’s experience in the manufacture of bespoke and sometimes challenging products, called upon them to provide a solution.
Graefe worked with the International Fire Consultants (IFC) and sourced a specialist core board in Germany to resolve the issues surrounding the project and manufactured doors which were finished with an immaculate 40% gloss black spray paint. Graefe adjusted the gloss percentage to match the solid black imported granite flooring to create a stunning finish.
Demonstrating their diversity, Graefe also produced a further pair of equally tall doors to sit behind the reception area. These beautiful doors were veneered in European Light Oak with raised and fielded panelling to fit with their more classical surroundings.
