Following the competition-winning design by landscape architect Kim Wilkie Associates, Szerelmey were appointed as specialist stonework contractors by Bovis Lend Lease to design, test, procure and install the stonework in the garden at the centre of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which covers an area of 2,800m2.

Designed as a functional yet tranquil area, there are two areas of lawn bordered by glass planters, which along with the centrepiece area, can be illuminated at night. Yorkstone paving continues from the centrepiece around the lawn areas to create a terrace where tables and chairs will extend out from the Museum’s café.

The courtyard’s focal point is an oval water feature paved in red sandstone, imported from Northern China, surrounded by Yorkstone, which was manufactured to three-dimensional designs using CAD-CAM technology. The objective of this centrepiece is to resemble a garden and be filled with water creating a pool, with the capability of being drained and used as a space for events in the courtyard in a short time frame.

The stone colour was important for the design, with the red sandstone from China specifically chosen for its dense, dark red colour to echo the brickwork of the surrounding Museum. This material was perfectly cut to fit the complicated double-curved shape of the oval showpiece, and along with decorative reasons and low porosity, were the determining factors that led to the choice of stone.

The stone pavings were laid out in 15 concentric oval courses, increasing in size towards the perimeter up to 900 x 900mm. All the stones were a standard 50mm thick and separated by 5mm mortar joints, weighing up to 1.5 tonnes. For the substrate, a reinforced concrete slab was laid to the same curves and falls as the finished paving and tanked in asphalt. The paving slabs were laid on a 40-50mm bed of a four parts sand to one part cement mortar and pointed in water resistant ready-mix Easypoint mortar. As well as a drain hole in the centre of the oval, a further drainage channel was cast in at mid point from the outskirts of the feature.

Once the sandstone pavings had been precisely designed and dimensioned, Szerelmey supplied the Chinese stonemason with a CD of cutting schedules. The cutting was mechanised and therefore meant that tolerances could be achieved to plus or minus 2mm.

The whole project was delivered in time in 10 weeks, in time for the opening in July 2005 by HRH Princes Charles.