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Attractions industry news

14 Jan 2020

Plans submitted for one of Europe's "biggest cultural projects"

Plans for the £337m ($438m, €394m) Museum of London, designed by Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap Architects, have been submitted to the City of London Corporation.

Described as "one of the biggest cultural projects happening in Europe", the museum has been in development since 2015, with the Stanton Williams and Asif Khan-led team announced in 2016 and the designs revealed earlier this year.

The facility is to be located in historic market buildings in the Smithfield area of the city, some of which date back to the Victorian era.

The buildings are described as being ideal for housing the museum, being neither "shiny new buildings or a grand old palace" but "structures grounded in the working and trading history of the city."

With the buildings having fallen into disrepair, much of the project will be focussed on restoration and preservation, with little in the way of adaptation planned.

The large above- and below-ground spaces housed within are already well suited for use as display, exhibition, learning and events spaces.

Paul Williams OBE, principal director at Stanton Williams, said: "The opportunity to help reinvent, reimagine and transform a group of existing Market Buildings into a 21st-century museum is an extraordinary opportunity – especially in an area of London so rich in history. Smithfield is a perfect location for the Museum of London, the place itself has so many stories to be told, and traces of the past to engage with."

The Museum of London is scheduled to open in 2024.