Mount Making

Project Brief

The National Army Museum wishes to appoint a suitably experienced mount making company to manufacture and install the object mounts for items to be displayed in a special exhibition at the National Army Museum in Chelsea for an exhibition opening in March 2018.

Included as separate documents with this tender brief are:

• Object Full Mount Schedule

1. Extent of Works

The scope of this mounts package consists of a number of different types of mount to be found in the schedule. The Contractor shall provide everything necessary for the mounting and completion of the Works.

General Comments

The schedule is separated into the following groups. This is to enable the contractor to appropriately assess costs and time allocation for the different type of mounts:

Objects inside the showcases will either be positioned on glass shelves requiring self-supporting mounts or secured directly on to the display case base or back boards, both of which will be made from Z-MDF. Full display case specifications will follow after the appointment has been made. If known the mount colour has been specified in the schedule.

Three objects will be on open display, one of which will need anchoring to a plinth and two of which will require suspension from the ceiling.

Access to Objects

The objects are currently located at combination of the NAM storage facilities in Stevenage and the lending venues (Royal Marines Museum, Combined Military Services Museum and the Airborne Assault Museum). As a high proportion of the objects will be on loan it is expected that the contractor will need to visit the lending venues as well as NAM. This will need to be considered when the object assessments, mount discussions and mount making are sequenced in the mount making programme.

Contractors are to note that there is a small workshop space at the main NAM off-site storage facility in Stevenage, which is also where the Collections Care and Standards Team are based. At this workshop Perspex could be worked, but there is currently no hot works permit or heat/extraction for working metal.

The contractor will need to describe their approach to the mount-making process including object assessments, measurement taking, mount making, checking the mount with the object prior to transfer to the museum site, and allowance within the tender price and time allocation for on-site installation of object mounts. NAM will need to see a breakdown from the contractor of the allowance for on-site work during object installation and what the approach of the successful contractor would be to making changes to mounts during this period.