Westminster Abbey Museum

London, UK

Westminster Abbey has an international reputation not just as one of London's principal visitor attractions but also as a living church renowned for the clarity of its vision and worship. Every year more than one million visitors explore the 700-year-old building and thousands more join for worship at its daily services.

UFO, working in conjunction with exhibition installation experts Plowden & Smith, was tasked with supplying and installing new fiber optic lighting in the museum's display cabinets. Due to the delicate nature of the artefacts on display, it was vital that the project was completed without removing the items from their cases.

Plowden & Smith were responsible for protecting the artefacts with plinths and installing new information boards, whilst UFO removed the tops from the cabinets and installed more than 250 UFO downlights into them. Once fitted securely using spring clips, the downlights were then rotated and tilted to point directly at the artefacts.

Some of the remarkable items which have been illuminated by UFO's fittings include the funeral saddler, sword, helm and shield of Henry V, the armour of General Monck (the founder of Coldstream) and Queen Mary II's coronation chair.

With the project requiring very quick completion to keep downtime to a minimum, UFO's installation team were on site for only three and a half days from start to finish.