Estate department

The Estate department is responsible for the continuing maintenance and repair of building fabric and services across the V&A Estate. The Department provides and manages all of the technical services such as engineering, building surveying and estate management and plays an integral role in the delivery of capital projects.

The Estate consists of The V&A, The Museum of Childhood, and specialist storage facilities at Blythe House and Dean Hill Park which are used to accommodate Museum objects in a controlled and monitored environment.

In addition, we work closely with the Projects team in the upgrade of the galleries and the building structure as part of FuturePlan and operate a Museum wide Helpdesk facility

The V&A is a Grade 1 listed building and has a floor area of approximately 85,000 m2 and plant rooms in over 300 locations, and the building has been subject to various modifications over the 150 years since its inception. Repairs and redecoration need to take into account every type of building fabric which includes terracotta façade tiles, ceramics, historic paint schemes and many mosaic floors. Estate Managers are required to work closely with our conservators and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to ensure best conservation practice is maintained and recorded at all times.

The Estate Department are the owners and keepers of sustainability and energy management, and maximising energy performance is a priority for the Museum, we continue to investigate new low energy methods to create the right ecological conditions to preserve our collections and objects. By optimising the use of daylight, controlling the environment by minimising solar gain, and using intelligent ventilation and heating strategies without humidification or cooling plant we are able to reduce energy consumption and our carbon footprint

The V&A is a member of London's Green 500 Scheme, the Mayor of London's pioneering carbon mentoring scheme that aims to recognise and acknowledge London organisations that are taking action to reduce carbon emissions, and in 2009 the Museum received a gold award followed in 2010 with a platinum award in recognition of the significant work that it has undertaken across the organisation to reduce its carbon footprint.

Due to the complexity of the Estate the team requires a wide range of skills and expertise and the roles include Head of Estate, Estate Managers specialising in Fabric and Historic Buildings, Mechanical & Electrical, Energy Management & Sustainability and Technical Systems, and Estate Administrators.

The Estate department explores collaboration opportunities with other South Kensington museums and institutions in order to look at ways of improving efficiency and ensuring we gain value for money when procuring utilities and other shared services.

Estate department staff and contact information

For general enquiries, please contact in the first instance the Estate Administrator. For other enquiries, please contact the relevant member team member:

Estate Administrator
Sarah McMillan
Telephone: +44(0)20 7942 2056
Email: s.mcmillan@vam.ac.uk

Head of Estate
Steve Hyde

Estate Managers
Sarah Drysdale (Building Fabric)
Steven Handforth (Building Fabric)
Richard Boston (Mechanical & Electrical)
Jon Piper (Technical Systems)

Helpdesk Administrator
Janet Carter