Last year it was announced that the HLF had set aside a £2.8m grant for the development of a brand new centre of excellence for the BHI. The centre, originally imaged to provide much needed training for the future generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK, has now seen a team of leading experts come together to “get the ball rolling” and “spearhead” the project for the brand new Centre for Horology.

The scheme itself is known as “Saving Time” and serves as phase one of the £8.5m mission plan from Focus Consultants to bring the project to the site. To begin with moving the project forward, the mentioned team was appointed to pull together a fully-costed proposal for the scheme, pursue with application for planning permission, and also pursue a second-round application with the HLF as preamble to the release of the aforementioned grant.

As for the team itself, the BHI chose Focus Consultants as project manager, quantity surveyor and bid planner, with Guy Taylor Associates then appointed for the remit of architecture, William Saunders for the civil and structural engineering, and SVM for mechanical and electrical; effectively, bringing together a wealth of expertise all under one roof. In addition to these parties, a number of other consultants and design agencies have also been included to further enhance the level of expertise and capacity in the team.

Of course, the appointment of the expert team has been highlighted as a key step in bringing the ambitions of the project into reality, as stated by the BHL’s Chief Executive Officer, Dudley Giles, who went onto say that works on the project are now in, “Full swing.” At the same time, the appointment also serves as the next step towards receiving the HLF grant which is essential to the project’s completion.