Showcase

The New Jorvik
York, UK

RMA Ltd were invited to tender for the design and construction of the new Jorvik. The existing Jorvik Viking Centre was already world famous and very successful. Whoever won the contract would have to ensure that the qualities that made the original Viking centre so special were not lost whilst introducing new elements that would guarantee the visitor a “New Show”.
We are pleased to say that RMA Ltd won the contract against some of the UK’s and America’s finest. We won the contract not only on the merits of our scheme but more importantly, due to our empathy with the client and the subject matter. We wanted to portray a typical day in the life of a Viking in Jorvik in AD 975.

From that point on, we set about designing Jorvik. This was no easy task. 20 years of research by the York Archaeological Trust had yielded an enormous amount of new information about life in Jorvik, all of which had to be included in the new Jorvik. The detail required was well beyond that normally needed for a dark ride. Each house was not only built to the same footprint, but erected on exactly the same spot as it was found during the original dig in 1976.

Attention to detail did not stop at the house frames and positions. Each house was clad in reproduction split oak panels in the same orientation as found, roofs were thatched in a Viking style relative to the age of the dwelling. The mud alleys and river banks, the moss on the roofs, the pollarded trees, the fruit and vegetables, even the little animals scattered around the city, all had to be 100% accurate in detail and type. If it hadn’t been excavated during the dig in 1976, it was not to be included within the city.

Of the allocated five-month shut down, RMA Ltd would only have four months to complete the entire installation. The first month would be taken up with demolition and ride track installation.

Within those four months a living section of a Viking city was born. All scenic, technical and production works were completed on time and ready for the public opening by the Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife. They both loved it. And if the present feedback is anything to go by, so does the general public.

This was one of those very special jobs that you probably only get one crack-at in a lifetime (although this was Rick’s second attempt).

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