1.18 Under the agreement RAI were to build the new museum according to the agreed design and operate it for 60 years. The Armouries would consequently get access to a new museum of 218,000 square feet, of which 138,000 were to be used for displays, exhibits and ancillary public facilities, such as a restaurant. The new museum enabled the display of almost 8,000 objects from the Armouries' collection, an increase of sixty per cent on the previous number of items on display (paragraph 1.9). It also provided better access for research by students, visitors and academic experts, and improved environmental conditions for the storage of the collection.