Protests go on: a BP or not BP? performance at the museum, as featured in the May 6 2022 Extra [Kristian Buus]

THE British Museum’s 10-year £1billion revamp took a step closer this week when a shortlist of five design teams were announced by the Bloomsbury institute.

But the Museum Street depositary for priceless plunder and ancient artefacts from around the globe has been criticised for saying the project has “ambitious decarbonisation plans” while accepting a £50million gift from fossil-fuel BP.

When the partnership with the fossil fuel firm was announced earlier this year, it attracted a wave of rage over the museum’s continued funding from the oil giant.

Yesterday, Thursday’s, announcement revealed that a list of more than 60 possible projects had been whittled down to a five-strong shortlist.

Work will see the Grade-I listed westside – home to treasures from ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt – both restored and updated.

A final decision is set to be announced in January.

The work is part of a masterplan due to take at least a decade to complete, and will see a radical overhaul of one-third of the building’s footprint.

The museum – which in the 2000s finished an extension at the northern end of the site – said the project is the biggest since the museum was built by Robert Smirke on its current site in the 1820s.

The complexity of the work is added to by the eight million pieces in its collection, the plan to keep the museum open during the works, and the sheer scale of the place; it contains 8,500 rooms.

The British Museum: ‘some of its buildings are over 200 years old’ [HAM, WIKIMEDIA (CC-BY-SA-3.0) DETAIL]

The ongoing financial relationship between the museum and BP has drawn protests, and just before they announced the £50million cash injection for the project late last year, author and broadcaster Muriel Gray resigned as a trustee.

Greenpeace chief scientist and policy director Doug Parr called the decision to accept the money one of the “…biggest, most brazen greenwashing sponsorship deals this sector has ever seen.”

He added: “The arts and culture world has been steadily cutting ties with big oil after realising the handy role they play in cleaning up their climate-wrecking image. Yet BP have wormed their way back in.”

“No cultural establishment that has a responsibility to educate and inform should be allowing fossil fuel companies to pay them to clean their image, not least the British Museum who have been here before. Did they learn nothing?”

Culture Unstained campaign group director Chris Garrard said: “The only way you can sign up to a new sponsorship deal with a planet-wrecking fossil fuel company in 2023 is by burying your head in the sand, pretending the climate crisis isn’t happening and ignoring the almost complete rejection of fossil fuel funding by the cultural sector in recent years.”

At the time of the BP announcement, a museum spokesman said: “We need significant financial support to be able to move forward and make sure this museum is still here for generations to come. We are delighted to have this support from BP.”

The five design teams, made up of 6A Architects, David Chipperfield, Eric Parry Architects and Jamie Fobert Architects, Lina Ghotmeh and OMA, will each be paid £50,000 to create their final vision.

The public will have the chance to consider the plans in December at an exhibition at the British Museum’s architectural heart, the Smirke-designed reading room.

Museum chair and former Conservative chancellor George Osborne said: “The redevelopment of the British Museum is one of the biggest projects of our time. We asked for the best of the architectural community to step forward to help, and they have, from Britain and across the world.

The shortlist we’ve chosen mixes renowned experience with exciting new voices. We couldn’t have asked for more.’

And BM’s director Nicholas Cullinan said the architects who win the tender will have an opportunity to make a long-lasting and important mark on London history.

He added: “This is a career-defining opportunity. I’m so impressed by the vision, creativity and sheer number of entries at this first stage of the competition.

“These teams have strong resumes and demonstrate the qualities we need for the Western Range project, which is both an architectural as well as intellectual transformation of the British Museum.”

Mr Osborne will head the selection panel, which also includes Grafton Architects’ Yvonne Farrell, curator Meneesha Kellay, international museum expert Mahrukh Tarapor, and artist Tracey Emin.
Masterplan committee chair Charlie Mayfield said: “The British Museum is one of the largest and most visited cultural institutions in the world but some of its buildings are over 200 years old and in urgent need of refurbishment. That’s why the masterplan is so essential, and it’s exciting to be moving forward with our plans.”