Penwith Gallery Shop and Staff Facilities Expansion

This project involves the expansion of the gallery shop area into what is currently the staff kitchen, enabling us to increase our shop retail area and offer space to more local artists and makers. The current kitchen is inadequate for the staff, particularly when hosting gallery events, and is also a poor use of space. It sits adjacent to the shop and would require minimal building works to open it up into one large retail area. PGL has done extensive fundraising over the past three years in order to accomplish some much-needed building and improvement work across the complex, and during the 2023 January closure period we designed and fitted bespoke cabinets in the gallery entrance for smaller works which have dramatically improved the appearance of the gallery and have boosted sales. We propose using the same St Ives-based carpentry business to design matching cabinets and shelving for the expanded shop, creating consistency across our display areas and giving us flexibility in our exhibitions.

The main part of the project involves converting our current store room into proper staff facilities including an improved kitchen, a proper bathroom with room for changing and a seating area for staff breaks and meals. The current storeroom is almost all dead space as it is also an access area for the existing toilet cubicle, and the small outer courtyard which we propose repurposing for the outdoor seating area is not used at all. The proposed staffing area would be a much better use of space and provide proper facilities for staff and visiting artists, plus a more attractive outdoor space in the current courtyard.

New cabinets for the expanded shop will be prefabricated off-site during this time and are not part of this tender. This should enable less disruptive works to the staff area to be completed during the busier time of December, with the final decoration period plus the stripping out of the existing kitchen and shop area and the fitting of the new cabinets taking place during the January closure.

As the gallery will be operational during normal working hours, the work will have to be carried out concurrently but taking steps where possible to minimise any disruption. The existing kitchen area can be accessed through an internal courtyard with its own street access, creating a route for the removal of materials. Materials should be delivered, where possible, outside gallery hours so before 10am or after 5pm. Work should be prefabricated where possible off site and material delivery should be carefully organised to avoid congestion. The courtyard next to the store room is owned by the gallery so can also be used as an outdoor workspace.

We will assess tenders received on a Most Economically Advantageous Tender.