One of the Natural History Museum’s gems is Charles Darwin’s archive, which draws academies from far and wide. The museum’s original Darwin Gallery was housed in a stunning top floor space, but storage was inadequate and so the Trustees took the decision to refurbish the areas, removing a mezzanine floor and updating the associated services.

Arc M&E were engaged to rewire the new Charles Darwin Gallery. The building first opened in 1881 and is Grade I listed. The intricate decorative plaster ceiling is original and has never supported lights of any description ‘consequently, we worked closely with the heritage architect and structural engineering load-testing the ceiling and deciding on drill points for the LED track lighting.

Works included:

• New power & lighting circuits
• Installation of floor boxes
• Test integrity of original decorative plaster ceiling
• Installation of support system for track lighting
• Installation of 536m of LED track lighting, incl PIR sensors
• Installation of fire alarm to gallery
• Installation of PA system to gallery
• Testing and commissioning