Beard has been selected by The SS Great Britain Trust to construct the new national Brunel museum alongside Bristol’s Floating Harbour.

The museum will be part of the £7.2 million Being Brunel scheme, which will explore the works of 19th century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-59).

Beard is working alongside Alec French Architects on the new two storey site which will lie next to Brunel’s historic ship SS Great Britain, one of Britain’s top-rated museums.  The project is due to get underway in terms of construction this November with a completion date of February 2018.

The new Brunel museum has been designed to reflect the façade of original buildings that would have flanked the SS Great Britain as she was built in her dry dock in 1840.

Beard will build a harbour side building that will connect to the historic Dock Office and Brunel’s Drawing Office via a walkway on the first floor.

Working within a historic dockyard, Beard will construct a steel-frame exhibition hall with a number of gallery spaces and a mezzanine level, along with a cafe.

Beard Bristol construction director Mike Hedges commented: “It’s a tremendous honour to be involved in the preservation of Brunel’s great legacy through this fantastic interactive new museum which, when completed, will bring Brunel’s genius and extraordinary mind to life.

“This is a complex project where our construction team will be working within a historic dockyard alongside the iconic SS Great Britain, which will remain open to visitors during the building works.”

The contract award for Being Brunel, the national Brunel museum, comes after Beard recently completed a new visitor centre at Clevedon Pier in Somerset, the only operating Grade I-listed seaside pier in the UK.

Meanwhile, Sean Franks has been appointed as contracts manager for the Bristol operations of Beard, becoming responsible for managing the group’s building contracts throughout the city and surrounding areas.