Work expected to take around two and a half years
RIBA plans to close its central London headquarters from 1 June next year in order to start an £85m refurbishment of the building.
The institute will shutter its 66 Portland Place office in Marylebone for around two and a half years to carry out construction work under plans designed by Benedetti Architects.
The grade II*-listed building will remain fully open for visitors until 1 June, although its onsite library and collections services will close earlier on 10 April.
Interim arrangements for the library and collections service at an alternative London location will be announced in due course, RIBA said.
The institute has also pushed back its schedule for submitting a planning application for its redevelopment of the 1930s building, now expecting to send the plans into Westminster council early in the new year. It had previously said the application would be submitted by the end of this year.
Benedetti’s proposed refurbishment and restoration aims to transform 66 Portland Place into a ‘House of Architecture’ under plans first unveiled by former RIBA president Simon Allford.
The proposals include a new collections centre to house the institute’s architectural collections and improve digital and cataloguing facilities.
> Also read: RIBA’s plans to refurbish its 66 Portland Place headquarters get public airing
The project would also add a new cafe with pavement seating on Weymouth Street, a relocated shop, bigger lifts, enhanced event spaces, a ‘treasures room’ housing important exhibits and improvements to energy usage and accessibility.
The institute is currently holding a third round of consultation on its updated RIBA Stage 3 designs, which propose removing the revolving doors at the main entrance and installing handrails to improve accessibility.
Respondents to previous consultation rounds described the doors, added in the 1980s, and the building’s entrance as “intimidating” and “outdated”.
The building’s notoriously small lifts, currently just 91cm wide and 110cm deep, will also be expanded to 110cm and 185cm respectively so they can accommodate full size wheelchairs.
If approved, construction on the scheme is now expected to start in autumn 2025, slightly earlier than the 2026 start date previously given, and complete in 2028.
Muyika Oki, the president at RIBA said: “House of Architecture is about unlocking and opening RIBA to make it - and everything it offers - far more accessible. It will ensure that we can encourage more people to care about architecture, promoting a deeper understanding and appreciation.”
RIBA’s collections consist of over four million items including manuscripts, drawings, books artefacts and audio recordings.
3 Readers' comments