The Masterplan
Key dates
BM_ARC
Opened in 2024
Energy Centre Programme
Construction started in autumn 2024
Western Range redevelopment
Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture appointed in February 2025
Visitor Welcome Programme
Architect and landscape design team led by Studio Weave appointed in December 2024
As one of the most significant cultural redevelopment projects undertaken anywhere in the world, the Masterplan will transform the British Museum for the 21st century.
Through the Masterplan, we will build a Museum for the future that connects us to our past and to each other. It includes a number of elements, which are already underway:
- The British Museum Archaeological Collection (BM_ARC), a state-of-the-art collection storage and research facility.
- A new Energy Centre Programme, which will dramatically reduce our carbon footprint.
- The complete reimagining of the Western Range, which includes a third of our gallery space at the iconic Grade I listed Museum site.
- The construction of new visitor welcome facilities, to replace the outmoded security tents.
The Museum will stay open throughout the works, maintaining the founding commitment to keep the collection safe and accessible to the public for generations to come.
Overview
Summer 2024 marked the end of the first phase of the Masterplan with the completed construction of the British Museum Archaeological Research Collection (BM_ARC), near Reading. This new facility stores collection items in a way that makes them easy to access for research, and to allow study and comparison across ancient world collections.
The second phase of the Masterplan is to overhaul the Museum's outdated energy infrastructure. The Energy Centre Programme will see the phasing out of fossil fuels and a shift to low-carbon energy, resulting in an estimated annual net saving of 1,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to existing usage.
The third phase is the complete reimagining of the Western Range, which includes all the galleries to the west of the Great Court. Since it opened in 1857, the British Museum buildings have evolved to accommodate more visitors and a growing collection. Now, we need to rebuild, redesign and restore some of those buildings and, at the same time, we want to reimagine how the collection is displayed to inspire future generations. We will begin with the redevelopment of the Western Range.
Another vital aspect of the physical redesign will be a spectacular new entrance and arrival experience. The Visitor Welcome Pavilions will replace the current structures at both entrances to the Museum – signalling our desire to be as accessible and welcoming to our visitors as possible.
Quote
This is going to be the biggest transformation of any museum in the world – not just physically, but intellectually too. And while we look towards this exciting future, we will remain guided by the words of our founder – who dreamed of a museum connecting all arts and sciences, which would be accessible to all persons. Indeed, we want to make the universal museum more relevant than ever by making it universally accessible. That means making our site here in London as welcoming as possible, it means sharing our objects as widely as possible – on a collaborative and equal basis – and it means embracing digital technologies to make our collection searchable, researchable, and available to everyone, everywhere.
Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE, Director of the British Museum
