Major step toward British Library in the North
LEEDS City Council officers are recommending that £5m is spent immediately
to safeguard the
building earmarked as the British Library in the North.
The report warned that the grade I listed Temple Works building was at “considerable risk” and that its future could be uncertain if the work was not progressed. In a press release the British Library
said: “The stabilisation work is urgently needed both to protect the iconic build- ing, which is on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, and to enable detailed investigatory work to assess the viability of transforming it into a new home for the British Library in Leeds.” It said the decision to allocate £5m – if Leeds City Councillors pass the recom- mendations – would be a “significant step forward” for this “major new pub- lic-facing centre for audiences and users in the north of England”. This would be the next stage in the project that was given £25m central gov- ernment backing in the 2020 Budget. At the time the British Library said the money was going “towards work already under way by Leeds City Council and ourselves to identify and establish a ma- jor new public space in the city centre”. According to the council’s recent report the: “British Library’s proposition is still being developed, but it is envis- aged that it will comprise a mixture of public space, research space, temporary exhibitions, permanent displays which explore both the Library’s
collection
and the history of the building, space for families and communities to spend time together, cultural events, space for busi- ness and entrepreneurs, and ancillary leisure.” Roly Keating, Chief Executive of the British Library said: “We have major ambitions to expand and enrich our offering to audiences across the north of England, and we are excited to have reached this key milestone in explor- ing the possibilities of Temple Works, both as an iconic location in its own right, and as a potential future home for the Library in Leeds. Working in close partnership with CEG (developers) and Leeds City Council, and in parallel with our transformation of our existing site at Boston Spa, the funding for this cru- cial next phase of this development will
July-August 2021 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL 7
CGI picture courtesy of CEG
A computer generated image of what the Temple Works building would look like after the transformation.
enable us to safeguard the historic fabric of the Temple Works mill, while exploring fully the scope and scale of the site’s future as part of the British Library.” Councillor James Lewis, leader of Leeds
City Council, said: “Temple Works is a jewel in Leeds’s heritage crown and the pros- pect of seeing it start a new chapter as the home of the British Library in the North is hugely exciting. The centre envisioned by the Library, CEG and ourselves would be a major cultural asset and would help drive
The Temple Works building as it looks today. Photo © Harry Archer
regeneration, not just in the Temple area but across the whole of the South Bank and beyond. It would also strengthen Leeds’s presence on the national and international stage, which has already been boosted in recent times by projects such as the UK Infrastructure Bank, the arrival of Channel Four and the new Leeds-based hub being planned by the Bank of England.”
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https://bit.ly/3zmQD2u l
www.bl.uk/press-releases/2021/july/temple-works
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