Competition Closed
William Ewart Gladstone (1809 – 1898) was the single most significant political figure of the nineteenth century. He remains the most inspirational and globally appreciated of our great statesmen and is also the most memorialized. Gladstone's Library is the UK's only Prime Ministerial Library and is unique in being a residential Library. Founded by Gladstone in 1889, its aim is to be 'the place to go' for debate, research and comment on the political, spiritual and cultural values that Gladstone stood for and, most importantly, showing how his ideals still have currency today. We want to extend our local, national and even global reputation through the quality of our programme and the excellence of our research collections, archive and exhibition. Our project will bring Gladstone's legacy alive for the twenty-first century.
What we want to achieve:
This will happen by:
These three core areas define not only our collection policy but the programme of the whole institution.
The Trustees believe that the keywords directing Gladstone's Living Heritage should be:
The selection process will be organised over the following phases:
Responses to the Selection Questionnaire (SQ) will be used to select a shortlist of suitable candidates (minimum 5) to proceed to the Tender (design competition) phase
Submission of Tender responses
Gladstone's Library is seeking submissions for an Invited Design Competition from architect–led teams with exceptional design skills for a prestigious new building and re-development of the existing Grade I listed building and its landscape. A shortlist of five teams will be chosen by an Evaluation Panel.
We are developing Gladstone's Library in order to promote wider engagement with the liberal values that lay at the heart of Gladstone's life and work and ensure they continue to play a purposeful role in Britain and beyond.
To do so, we need to create a new space complementary to, but quite different from, our Victorian library building. This will be New Hall, a flexible, contemporary space that will enable us to expand our programmes of debates, lectures and events. Using digital technology, we will also be able to extend their reach.
Our aim is to create a visitor experience that will engage and inspire a broader range of audiences. An impressive new space will be dedicated to three defining themes of Gladstone's political career that have exceptional contemporary resonance – human rights and genocide; the evolution of democracy; religious tolerance. These themes will be the focus of a permanent exhibition and will form part of the Library's future work and mission.
Above all else, we wish to popularise – but in no way trivialise – the political, spiritual and cultural values that define the man and his heritage.
The Timetable (which may be subject to alteration) for the procurement is as follows:
| Activity | Date (estimated) 2018 |
|---|---|
| Issue OJEU Notice | Monday 05 March |
| Release of Briefing Information & Selection Questionnaire | Tuesday 06 March |
| Latest date for queries relating to the SQ | Tuesday 27 March |
| Deadline for receipt of SQ returns | 14:00 — Tuesday 10 April |
| Evaluation meeting and selection of shortlist | Tuesday 01 May |
| Shortlist notified & notification to unsuccessful candidates | w/c 07 May |
| Issue of Design Brief & ITT to shortlist | w/c 07 May |
| Site visit & briefing session for shortlisted teams | Monday 21 May |
| Latest date for queries relating to the ITT | Friday 01 June |
| Memorandum issued in response to queries | w/c 04 June |
| Submission deadline | 14:00 — Tuesday 19 June |
| Clarification interviews & presentations | Wednesday 27 June |
| Notification of result and start of 10 day Standstill period | w/c 02 July |
| Winning press release announcement | w/c 16 July |
The Timetable is indicative only and Gladstone's Library reserve the right to change it at its discretion. You will be notified of any changes made to the timetable.