The Natural History Museum (NHM) has announced Niall McLaughlin Architects, in collaboration with Kim Wilkie, as the winners of their Civic Realm competition to redesign the grounds of the London attraction.

Niall McLaughlin was chosen from a shortlist of five architectural practices also including Stanton Williams Architects, Grant Associates, Land Use Consultants and BIG.

The Civic Realm competition was launched to help address visitor engagement, care of the collection and renewal of the building, as part of a wider masterplan development framework created in 2012 for the five-million visitor a year attraction.

Set against the backdrop of Sir Alfred Waterhouse’s 1880 Grade I listed building, the redevelopment will feature a café and exhibition space below ground, on top of which will sit a new green square at street level. There will also be a research garden for monitoring the city’s ecosystem. Currently, no information about the cost of the project or the timescale has been released.

Niall McLaughlin said: “The Natural History Museum offers the opportunity for us to reflect upon the relationship between an important building and the natural landscape that surrounds it.”

One of the major challenges facing the project was to remedy the modern development with its archaic surroundings.

Ian Henderson, jury chair of the competition, added: “The challenge was to find a team who would consider the changing nature of the museum, considering the museum and the grounds together. Niall McLaughlin Architects did this brilliantly.”

Read more about the competition here.