Minutes of the Board meeting held on Friday 2 July 2021 at 2pm via Zoom
Present
John Kingman (Interim Chair)
John Booth
Catherine Goodman
Katrin Henkel
Rosemary Leith
David Marks
Tonya Nelson
Stuart Roden
Molly Stevens
In attendance
Dr Gabriele Finaldi - Director
Dr Caroline Campbell - Director of Collections and Research
Dr Susan Foister - Deputy Director
Paul Gray - Chief Operating Officer
Victoria Hayes - Secretary to the Board and Head of Governance
Andy Hibbert - Director of Finance
Chris Michaels - Director of Digital, Communications and Technology
Anh Nguyen - Director of Development
Sarah Younger - Project Director, NG200 project
In attendance from Malcolm Reading Consultants
Malcolm Reading
1. Presentation of selection panel report
1.1. The Interim Chair said that the purpose of the meeting was to seek the Board’s endorsement of the design team chosen by the selection panel for the NG200 capital projects
1.2. He said that Trustees would be shown excerpts from each of the shortlisted schemes, with a longer presentation of the winning scheme and an outline of the process undertaken by the selection panel.
1.3. Malcolm Reading gave an outline of the process and presented the selection panel’s report.
2. Declarations of interest
2.1. Katrin Henkel recused herself from discussion about the proposal or voting.
3. Presentation with slides of five short listed schemes and the selected scheme
3.1. The Project Director gave a slide presentation of each of the designs from the shortlisted teams and outlined the panel’s deliberations for each one.
3.2. She showed the Board a film of part of the interview with the selected team.
3.3. The Interim Chair explained that Stuart Roden, although not a member of the selection panel, had attended the interviews as a member of the Masterplan Committee.
4. Discussion and comments on the proposed decision from the selection panel
4.1. Each member of the selection panel gave reasons for their choice of Annabelle Selldorf and her team as the preferred architect to work on the NG200 projects. The Director reminded the Board that the panel were looking for a team with an approach rather than a fully-fledged design and that he had confidence in the ideas and holistic approach taken by Annabelle Selldorf.
4.2-4.4. The Chair asked the Board for their comments and questions. Information has been excluded under s.22, s.36 and s.43 FOI 2000.
4.5. The Board were positive about the selection panel’s choice of design team and agreed that subject to their comments, it was strong on aspects of public benefit, it successfully opened up the welcome area in the Sainsbury Wing, increased footfall and visibility, and was realistic in terms of the timing.
4.6. The Project Director said that she would convey the Board’s comments to the design team.
5. Ratification by the Board of the decision made by the selection panel and approved by the Masterplan Committee
5.1. The Board approved the choice of Annabelle Selldorf by the selection panel.
5.2. The Chair of the Masterplan Committee confirmed that the Board would be kept properly informed at all stages.
5.3. Malcolm Reading said that each unsuccessful team would receive detailed feedback, including those who had not been shortlisted, if requested. He said that there would be a ten-day standstill period before a press announcement was made on 14 July.
5.4. The Board thanked the selection panel, Malcolm Reading and the Project Director for all their hard work in accomplishing so much in a short space of time.