Two more awards for Temperate House restoration
Donald Insall Associates’ restoration project to the Temperate House at Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the largest Victorian glasshouse in the world, has picked up two accolades at recent award ceremonies: firstly at the RICS London Awards on 2nd May, and most recently a commendation at last night’s Museums + Heritage Awards in the Restoration of the Year category.
The criteria for Restoration of the Year stated that ‘particular attention is given to how the project has enhanced public access whilst ensuring important historical artefacts and buildings have been safeguarded for the future’, something that was key throughout the restoration of Temperate House. During the restoration process, 69,151 individual components were removed and restored or replaced, alongside the careful removal and storage of countless botanical specimens.
At the awards ceremony, director of the Museums + Heritage Awards Anna Preedy commended on the ‘amazing achievements, creativity, innovation, hard work and utter commitment’ on display, with the awards having become something that demonstrates the ‘benchmark for excellence’ in the sector.
The RICS London Award saw the Temperate House highly commended in the ‘Tourism & Leisure’ category, while it was also shortlisted for the Building Conservation Award. We have had significant winners in the Tourism & Leisure category in the past, including for the Chester Cathedral at Height project and the Antur Stiniog Mountain Biking Centre at the RICS North West Awards.
The Temperate House Precinct Project has already seen several honours since completion a year ago, including at the Richmond Society Awards and a high-profile shortlist for the World Architecture Festival Award.
