The National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside’s NMGM Into the Future project included redevelopment of two of its eight public venues, the Liverpool Museum and the Walker Art Gallery. Because in both cases a proportion of collections remained on site during the building works, effective dust and vibration controls were essential to ensure protection of the collections. Although passive monitoring techniques were employed to provide technical data, it was important that they were not the sole measures by which dust and vibration were controlled. Of greater significance was liaison with contractors to ensure that monitoring was targeted in the right areas at the right time, and that monitoring and control methods were regularly reviewed by all parties involved in the building works. Control methods were most effective when clear communication routes had been established between the client and contractors for successful teamwork. -- SCMRE