Le Quensoy New Zealand Liberation Museum, France

The Trust purchased a property in Le Quensoy which included a historic ‘mansion’ formerly used as a Mayoral residence and a gendarmerie (military police station) building and an expansive site with other smaller buildings.

The Trust took on the significant responsibility of creating a permanent memorial and visitor experience at Le Quensoy to honour the extraordinary feats of New Zealand’s soldiers and exhibit educational and interactive experience  from  World War I.

This was not merely a building project; it is a project of national historical significance and international relations.

The stakeholders were diverse, from private donors to New Zealand Government ministries, New Zealand military organisations, the New Zealand public, the French local/provincial Government, the French public, the Trustees and, above all, the New Zealand soldiers who lost their lives.

The project was managed by APL from NZ over 3.5 years with periodic visits. A French architect and multiple contractors were engaged to undertake the work, which had the added complexities of working with a 200 plus year old building with very strict protections of historic architectural features.

APL contemporaneously led a competitive tender process in New Zealand to select a suitable visitor experience specialist. The Trust selected Weta Workshop and APL had the privilege of working with, Aotearoa’s Weta Workshop, who were engaged to bring the stories curated by the Trust to life. This required a high level of technology that needed to be integrated during the building refurbishment – as a forethought, not an afterthought.

An exciting, challenging and very meaningful project to be involved with.

APL’s services/role in the project:

• Project Management Services for the Mansion refurbishment and visitor experience installation
• Procurement strategy
• Budget control
• Development and Chairing of the Project Control group
• Stakeholder reporting throughout project lifecycle – Design brief to Completion.