Museum ‘flags’ up its 200,000 visitor

OVER 200,000 pairs of feet have now walked over specially designed external flagstones at the Ulster Museum since it re-opened last year.

 The latest figures were revealed by Ulster Museum operations manager Les McLean who said he was “thrilled” at the increased footfall to the popular facility which re-opened in a blaze of publicity last October following a £17m upgrade .

 Mr McLean said a full programme had been lined up for visitors, including a series of lectures with internationally renowned artists and a return to nostalgic cinema screenings which first ran at the museum during the Forties and Fifties.  The museum is also preparing to relaunch its own art collection as the travelling exhibition of Sean Scully comes to an end in March.

 The all-important busy entrance area was an integral part of the ambitious project for Fivemiletown-based company Acheson & Glover, market leaders in concrete design and manufacture.  The company was tasked with designing the specialised paving to cope with the extra weight expected from increased pedestrian traffic and light maintenance vehicles accessing the area.

Group specification manager with Acheson & Glover, Rodney Davidson, said high specification and high quality flags were produced to an increased depth of 63 mm at the company’s advanced manufacturing plant at Toome.

“The standard depth is 50mm, but we are one of few companies in the UK which can produce a depth of up to 80mm for extra durability, life expectancy, extra loading and safety,” said Rodney. “Extra loading was needed to allow cherrypickers on site and also light vehicles for disabled access and maintenance purposes.

“We were delighted to be involved in this prestigious contract which featured natural aggregate flags cut to 63mm deep and also traditional boulevard paving.  From an aesthetic point of view, we were able to use two finishes from our paving range which helped complement the natural stone and the old traditional style of the building.”

The Patton Group were the main contractors for the project and Acheson & Glover worked in partnership with landscape architects, Design Matters in Belfast.

 The contract was worth around £20,000 to Acheson & Glover and was an integral part of the overall £17m revamp which took three years to complete.