Black Cultural Archives

The Clarkson Alliance has been chosen to manage the redevelopment of Raleigh Hall in Brixton, London, to house the Black Cultural Archives, due to open in 2011 as a new national centre for black cultural heritage.

The derelict Grade II-listed building in the heart of Brixton will be transformed to contain exhibition galleries; a secure and environmentally controlled archive strongroom; research centre and reference library; conference and workshop spaces, and a shop. The ambitious £6.5 million project is being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, London Borough of Lambeth and the London Development Agency. Black Cultural Archives, a charitable trust set up in the community in 1981, has collected a wide range of materials including 1,200 books, photographs, oral history tapes, personal papers, sculptures and textiles. The project is intended to create an educational resource for the capital and to help regeneration in the borough.