Exhibition Mantegna and Bellini in the National Gallery

Hakwood flooring part of refurbishment prior to exhibition

The National Gallery’s exhibition about Mantegna and Bellini starts October 1. This tale of two of the most influential artists of the Renaissance, who are also brothers-in-law, is located in the Sainsbury Wing. Prior to this major exhibition, this part of the gallery received a major refurbishment – including the replacement of all of the flooring. With millions of visitors viewing its outstanding collection of early Renaissance paintings every year, the Sainsbury Wing is a demanding place to maintain.

‘Best-of’

“We face different challenges with a project like this”, says Tom Ellis Jones, Head of Projects & Building fabric maintenance at the National Gallery. “We want as much of the collection to be on display for as long as possible, so simply closing the galleries is not an option. In this case we curated a ‘best-of’ exposition and placed it in one of the rooms we’re not renovating. Still, we needed to finish the work as soon as possible, with minimal disruption for the public.”

Grasping the project

It’s vital that contractors understand the complexities of such an operation, which took two years of preparation, says Ellis Jones. “The flooring company really grasped our projects and our building. I specified Hakwood because it was used very successfully in another gallery: it’s in keeping with what’s already in place and the quality of the timber is consistent. The combination of dimensional stability of the product and the installer’s cradle system meant that there wasn’t a lot of drilling and that installation was swift. It gave us exactly what we wanted.”

Hakwood flooring specified:

Flooring: European oak, FSC (mixed)

Grade: Premier 1-bis

Finish: Site finished

Thickness: 20mm Width: 100mm