55 year old Moira Gemmill who died in a collision with a tipper lorry at Millbank roundabout Thursday 9th April. Image Graham Jepson & Victoria and Albert Museum.

Tributes and obituaries have been paid to 55 year old Moira Gemmill who died in a collision with a lorry at the junction of Horseferry Road and the Millbank roundabout yesterday morning.

Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum Martin Roth said:

We are devastated to hear of the tragic death of our much-loved and respected colleague of many years, Moira Gemmill. During her 13-year career at the V&A as the Director of Design before leaving for the Royal Collection Trust in January this year, she made an extraordinary impact in transforming the Museum’s galleries and facilities with the FuturePlan programme of restoration, refurbishment and redesign.

Major projects included the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries and most recently the Weston Cast Court. I cannot overstate Moira’s remarkable contribution in making the V&A the global leader in museum design that it is today. She will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with her family at this very sad time.

Laura Mark wrote an obituary for the Architects Journal and said:

She was best known for her role at the V&A, where she was director of design and also led the planning and implementation of FuturePlan – the V&A’s on-going programme of restoration, refurbishment and redesign of its galleries and public spaces. Her resulting projects led annual visitor numbers to the museum to soar from 900,000 to 2.9 million.

Through the FuturePlan programme she engaged with world-class designers, architects and engineers to create bold interventions at the grade I-listed West London museum and gallery space, while also supporting upcoming talent including MUMA, Nissen Richards Studio and 6a Architects.

The Daily Telegraph said she was known for her championing of excellent architecture.

She was was a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and served as a judge for the Architectural Review’s Women in Architecture Awards from 2011.

She had been cycling from her home in Kennington to her work at St James’s Palace when she became the fifth cyclist in London this year to die in collision with a lorry.

See our previous coverage.

London’s cyclists to hold vigil and mass ‘die-in’ after fifth cyclist dies in collision with Heavy Goods Vehicle in London this year