Young V&A, formerly the V&A Museum of Childhood, is a branch of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which is the United Kingdom's national museum of applied arts. It is in Bethnal Green in the East End of London and specialises in objects by and for children. 

In 2019, the Fire Surgery was appointed as fire engineer on a full-scale transformation of the Grade II* listed  building, from its prior incarnation as a museum of the social and material history of childhood to a completely refurbished and reimagined museum for children. The museum was designed with and for the young, with national collection displays entirely dedicated to children from birth to early teens. The three-year, £13m redevelopment comprised of three new galleries, a suite of workshop and learning spaces, a purpose-built 515-square-metre exhibition gallery, a shop and a café.

The principal change which affected the fire strategy was the removal of two open accommodation stairs on the north side of the building which connects the upper ground floor with the first floor gallery. There is a new feature helical stair provided at the east end of the building providing general access between the lower ground floor and the first floor but this is not considered an escape route in the fire strategy. There was also an aspiration from the Museum to increase visitor numbers on the first floor including 6 wheelchair users. These changes have resulted in changes to the existing means of escape provisions which in particular have impacted on the escape widths available, the travel distances, disabled egress and also escaping past a void with 4.5m. This fire strategy therefore provides design solutions to address these challenges.

Client: Victoria and Albert Museum

Architect: De Matos Ryan