THE opening of Leicester’s Jewry Wall Museum and Visitor Centre – currently under-going a multi-million pound transformation – has been delayed following the collapse of a second contractor working on the project.
Elmwood Projects, which was commissioned by the city council to design and manufacture the exhibition and displays for the centre, announced it was going into liquidation earlier this month. Located in Scotland, the company was providing the design, build and installation of exhibition cases, large mosaic displays, object mounts and some of the audio-visual elements for the centre.
The news follows the unexpected liquidation of NMCN – one of the biggest construction companies in the Midlands - which was originally brought in to carry out the external works needed to the existing museum building and heritage site.
The council managed to appoint Olivetti and Jeakins Weir last year to continue with the construction work, and good progress was being made on the ambitious refurbishment. This new blow to the project is likely to result in some further delay to the opening, although the council hopes this will not be significant.
Richard Sword, the council’s strategic director for city developments and neighbourhoods said: “It is very rare for two such well-established companies working on the same project to be hit in this way, but these are very difficult times for the construction industry, with three of the four companies that originally bid for this work now in administration. We sympathise with everyone affected by these company closures.
“We are grateful that Elmwood had already completed most of the work we had commissioned."
"Leicester already benefits significantly from tourists interested in our 2000 years of history and the discovery of King Richard lll. The new-look museum and visitor centre has the potential to bring in many more thousands of visitors and huge economic benefits to Leicester.
"At this point it is difficult to say exactly how this will affect the opening date and our costs, but I am hopeful we can resolve this without too much of an impact.”
Following the loss of the first contractor, the council had been working towards an opening date of January 2025. It’s now more likely this will be around summer 2025, although this is yet to be confirmed.
The council is planning a celebration of Roman Leicester to tie in with the opening of the museum, details of which will be announced later this year.