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In July 2014 the Museum of London Archaeology team leading the excavations and research at Bloomberg London came along to the British Museum to the British Archaeological Awards, looking forward to hearing about some of the best archaeological projects in the UK and having a good chat and maybe a drink with colleagues.

We were thrilled to have been shortlisted for 2014 Best Archaeology Project. The excavations on the site of Bloomberg’s new European HQ were a big deal for MOLA. We knew that the archaeological remains on the site could be spectacular as a result of waterlogged deposits associated with the Walbrook river and because this is the site where the temple of Mithras was found in 1954.

We had put in a huge amount of planning into this excavation, working with the developers, architects, engineers and geotechnical specialists. It was genuinely multi-disciplinary. Archaeologists were invited to all the key meetings and Bloomberg as a company believed that getting the archaeology right was as much their responsibility as having a great building for a high profile central London site.

Bloomberg also believe passionately in communicating the results of the archaeology and together with MOLA delivered one of the largest public engagement programmes ever undertaken for a single site. We created a website, blogged, gave over 50 presentations, helped create 2 films, put on 5 temporary displays and undertook an oral history project.

So, back to that lecture theatre in the British Museum in 2014.

When the winner of the Best Archaeological Award was announced – and it was Bloomberg London – we were overjoyed for the whole team. Winning the award was a massive boost and validated all of the effort that everyone had put in.

The next day, the construction company, developers and Bloomberg were all talking about it. The BAA award created a great buzz around the site and one of the engineers later told me it just confirmed that they were in ‘the A Team’.

The BAA Award certainly made a difference to us, it was motivational, raised our profile across the project team, acknowledged the value of all of the public engagement – and extended way beyond the world of archaeology.

We wish all the best to 2016’s lucky winners!

Sophie Jackson, Director of Client Relations, MOLA

6 July 2016