Visitor Management Strategy for Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich
The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich is a complex of grade 1 listed buildings adjoing the National Maritime Museum and Greenwich Park. It has a long history having been a Royal palace, seaman’s hospital, naval collgee and now home to Geenwich University. The buildings were designed by Wren and Vanbrugh and form the centrepiece of a World Heritage Site.
We were commissoned, shortly after the buildings were taken over by a charitable trust, and the site was to be opened to the general public for the first time. Our task was to look at how visitor access to the site might best be managed, how the site should be interpreted and explore options for the development of a new visitor centre, including outline costs. Issues to be addressed were concerns about posible conflicts between the new tenants and visitors and the fact that much of the early history of the site lay hidden under the ground.
In the light of this our recommendations were for a free introductory exhbition in the visitor centre with a charged for more detailed experience and combined guided tour of the site. In the event visitor access has proved un-problematic and work is now underway on a new visitor centre.
