Met Studio

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Met Studio's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Met Studio is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.metstudiodesign.com

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

16 | MET STUDIO DESIGN LIMITED

CEO and Chairman

Alex McCuaig

Buckfast Abbey –

The Monastic Way

London-based MET Studio work across a variety of disciplines,

but CEO and Chairman Alex McCuaig describes their

“core areas of work” as being museums, exhibitions and

international expos. Although this means that they cover a broad

range of projects across both the public and private sectors, Alex

believes that one central concept underpins everything they do:

culture. Having first formed as a partnership in 1982, they became

a limited company in 1996 and opened a Hong Kong office in the

same year. Alex explains more about the kind of projects that MET

Studio undertake and examines their process in greater detail.

Although, at heart, we are a professional design studio, our day-to-day work

encompasses so much more than that. We are storytellers, and we work with

clients to tell their story across every step of an exhibit or project, from feasibility,

market research and financing through to planning, design and build.

With our strong belief in the importance of collaboration, a boldly creative team

and focus on strategy and vision, we have delivered museums, exhibitions and

attractions across 50 countries for over 30 years.

Buckfast Abbey – The Monastic Way

We believe this ethos of partnership, creativity and innovation is best displayed

through examples of our work. Last year, we completed The Monastic Way exhibit

for Buckfast Abbey in Devon, which previously had no visitor interpretation of the

abbey or the life of the monks who live and work there.

FACTS ABOUT

MET STUDIO DESIGN LIMITED

»CEO and Chairman:

Alex McCuaig

»Incorporated in 1996

»Based in London

»Services: Experiential design

consultancy

»MET Studio have delivered

projects across 50 countries

for over 30 years

»www.metstudiodesign.com

MET Studio

Design Limited

»RECENT AWARDS

»Building Awards 2016

Contractor of the Year (up to

£300 million)

»RIBA Stirling Prize 2016 for

Newport Street Gallery

»RIBA London Arts & Leisure

Category Award for the 7/7

Memorial in Hyde Park

»National BREEAM Industrial

Award for Defra

»Considerate Constructors

Scheme National Silver Awards

2017 & 2018

»Highly Commended, Society of

College, National and University

Libraries (SCONUL) Design

Awards for Kingston University

17MET STUDIO DESIGN LIMITED |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

The abbey approached us after

trawling the country for experienced

designers. Our first task was to

demonstrate our design expertise

and empathy with the subject.

Subsequently, they requested that we

create a visitor experience sympathetic

to their values and goals, all the

while exploring a 1,500-year journey

of Benedictine monks spread across

Europe and beyond.

After securing the contract, we

collaborated with both our researchers

and content developer working

with Buckfast Abbey to develop

something entirely unique for their

visitor experience. We also engaged

the services of individual specialist

companies to handle construction,

model-making, audio-visual

productions and interactive software.

We finalised the project after a year of

weekly cross-sector collaboration, and

feedback has been overwhelmingly

positive.

Hong Kong Wetland Park

In Hong Kong, we worked together

with government representatives to

build a wetland park. They provided us

with three particular goals they had in

mind:

»Mitigating the loss of land and

species through urbanisation

»Creating another venue for tourism

»Educating young people across the

city with regard to the preservation

and migration of wildfowl

Throughout every stage of the process,

we worked closely with partners from

the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust to cover

feasibility and present to government

ministers on the Hong Kong tourism

board. After establishing a plan, we

worked closely on concept, narrative,

production and specification with

a variety of other entities involved,

including government architects, to

finalise the £50 million project.

Collaboration is an absolute

priority

In both of these examples, one trait that’s

of absolutely paramount importance for

us resonates: collaboration. By partnering

with clients and demonstrating our

willingness to work with a variety of

other bodies, we have consistently

delivered large-scale projects with

outstanding results. It really is as simple as

that – a willingness to listen and engage

with others with a view to creating

one coherent, excellent and culturally

appropriate project has underpinned

our journey from success to success.

This ethos does not solely cover the

work we do day to day, however; it has

governed our growth and international

expansion over the past three decades.

We’re currently in partnership with

architecture firms in Hong Kong and

Mexico, having operated independently

in the former since 1996. We are

additionally celebrating the opening of

our new Singapore office and plan on

expanding into Dubai soon.

This will allow us to take advantage of

the booming market for experiential

design services in the Middle East.

Heritage and tourism are very much

hot topics in that part of the world –

and we believe that winning business

abroad by sitting in a London office is

impossible. Being out in the field doing

research and forging partnerships from

an early stage is key for the kind of

international work we undertake.

Hong Kong Wetland

Park

We have

delivered

museums,

exhibitions and

attractions

across 50

countries for

over 30 years

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

18 | MET STUDIO DESIGN LIMITED

Western problems on an

international stage

These international operations do

not come without their fair share of

challenges, however. Any company

that tries to take Western ideology

and processes abroad with them

will fail. Constantly redefining our

methodologies to play by another

culture’s rules isn’t always easy, but it

is entirely necessary.

We constantly travel around the world

looking to meet, greet and adapt.

This helps to lay the appropriate

foundations for future partnerships,

and we receive no shortage of support

from British government in this regard.

Frankly, the work of the Department

for International Trade has been

outstanding and incredibly helpful.

The only problem is that this support

extends beyond us to a raft of other

similar companies.

When vying for projects abroad,

we already have to compete with

European, Asian and American

companies – a well-structured

government programme just brings

more British companies into the

marketplace. Although this is still

promoting international trade, it might

be the wrong approach; perhaps

government should look at getting

the right British companies to fly the

flag, rather than spreading the net

toowide.

OJEU concerns after March

2019

The Official Journal of the European

Union requires all tenders to be

formally published in one central place

as according to European legislation.

This process means that design and

build projects are available not just

for British companies, but for those

across Europe. At first glance, it might

seem that Brexit could pave the way

for more exclusive opportunities

on domestic soil, but the OJEU also

informs companies like ours about

European projects.

It’s tough enough working in Europe

without this further hindrance, but

we do work across the globe and thus

don’t foresee Brexit being completely

devastating in this regard. What’s

more pressing, however, is the fact

that around 50 per cent of our team

are European, many of whom are

becoming concerned about their

future in the UK.

Diversify, expand and stay

one step ahead

We’re proud of the work we do, and

we want to continue doing it, but

the international landscape is about

to change. As such, we will need to

keep looking at new marketplaces to

expand into going forwards.

We will continue to make new

contacts and build new relationships

all across the world. Our vision is to be

constantly in the vanguard of emerging

new sectors before an opportunity

arises – if we are going to succeed, we

must stay one step ahead of the pack.

By partnering

with clients

and

demonstrating

our willingness

to work with a

variety of

other bodies,

we have

consistently

delivered

large-scale

projects with

outstanding

results

“

Museo De Ciencias

Ambientales,

Guadalajara, Mexico

www.metstudiodesign.com

This article was sponsored by Met Studio. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy