The sale of the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum site in Cardiff Bay funded a new collections store at Nantgarw. The National Museums and Galleries of Wales then embarked on a search for a new site to showcase its maritime and industrial collections and the stories about “Wales: the first industrial nation”.

Our consultants were commissioned to manage a Green Book appraisal of over a dozen proposed sites from across Wales. This appraisal ultimately selected Swansea waterfront as the preferred location. Over the next 3 years, we worked continuously on the project as the client’s lead consultant, advising on all aspects of the development.

On behalf of the client, we secured over £30m of grant investment for the project from the National Lottery, European Funds and the Welsh Government.

A critical factor that ultimately influenced the success of the museum was the parallel appointments of the architect and exhibition designer. Few projects at the time placed as high a value and importance on the museum experience as they did on the building and its ‘signature’ architecture.

The project is also credited with catalysing the wider regeneration of Swansea Docks.