British Museum Micro CT

The Museum is the recipient of a grant from the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme awarded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The grant will enable the creation of an X-ray Imaging Centre at the Museum accessible to researchers from the UK and across the globe. The Centre will build on the X-ray imaging facilities already available at the Museum by funding the purchase of a micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) instrument, which is the subject of this procurement. The micro-CT scanner will offer significantly higher resolution than the existing setup, whilst being versatile in the size, shape and materials it will be able to scan. This will allow it to cover the wide range of material in the Museum collection and those from collaborators under the RICHeS programme.

The Museum wishes to procure the instrument, and all necessary supporting equipment and software, as set out in greater detail below in the specification. The procurement will also include delivery and installation of the instrument in the Museum’s X-ray laboratory suite in its World Conservation and Exhibition Centre (WCEC) at its main site in Bloomsbury, London. The supplier will conduct all necessary post installation tests of functionality and provide training to the RICHeS staff on use of the instrument. Post warranty maintenance services will also be provided as part of the contract.

The grant provides a budget of £710,000 (excluding VAT) for the purchase of the instrument, supporting computing hardware and software, delivery, installation, training and for a maintenance and service contract to last 5 years post installation.