PULSE Consult Completes Project Management Role for V&A East Museum at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Exterior V&A East Museum - credit Peter Kelleher
PULSE Consult has played a central role in the completion and opening of the V&A East Museum located at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The consultancy provided essential project management and contract administration services during the delivery phase, overseeing multiple stakeholders and managing both programme and commercial risks.
The five-level building houses two permanent galleries titled Why We Make, alongside a temporary exhibition space, a gift shop, and the Café Jikoni restaurant. It also includes a flexible event area with an outdoor terrace offering views across the Park. The museum’s opening features a major temporary exhibition, The Music is Black: A British Story, which examines the influence of Black British music on UK culture over the past 125 years and its global impact.
Lee Cantrill, board director at PULSE Consult, emphasised the consultancy’s involvement during a critical stage of the project. He said: “This project has delivered a significant cultural asset for East London, and we are pleased to have played a key role in its delivery. PULSE Consult was brought into the scheme at a critical stage, where our focus was on coordinating across a highly complex stakeholder and design environment, and supporting the team in achieving the technical requirements associated with a tightly controlled museum specification.”
He added: “We embedded ourselves within the client project team to co-ordinate multiple contracts and apply robust contract administration up to and beyond each sectional and practical completion milestone, reflecting our wider role as a trusted delivery partner on complex, multi-stakeholder developments.”
The V&A East Museum is part of the East Bank, a significant post-2012 Olympic and Paralympic legacy initiative that aims to establish a new cultural and educational hub in east London.
PULSE Consult’s involvement with V&A East extends beyond this project, having previously delivered the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. The firm was appointed as project manager, quantity surveyor, and contract administrator for the retrofit scheme that created a permanent home for the David Bowie archive.
Lee highlighted the long-term nature of the V&A East projects, stating: “The V&A East schemes represent a long-term programme of cultural infrastructure development. Our continued involvement demonstrates the strength of our working relationship and our experience in delivering technically demanding, high-profile museum environments.”
Jen McLachlan, project director at V&A East, praised PULSE Consult’s contribution: “We engaged PULSE Consult to provide contract administration and project management support on V&A East Museum, and they became a natural extension of our in-house projects team. It never felt like an external service. With so many stakeholders and partners involved, their ability to collaborate was critical. They were in the detail with us during the crucial stages, bringing clarity to priorities, keeping communication tight across all parties, and handling the contractual side so we could focus on delivery. Professional, dependable and genuinely invested in the outcome.”
