The British Library Centre for Conservation, St Pancras

This project was won as a result of an European design competition during 2003.

The British Library\'s brief was to build a world-class Centre for Conservation on a site immediately north of their existing building at St Pancras. The centre houses book and paper conservation facilities and the British Library Sound Archive. It also has a mission to convey and teach the special techniques of conservation. Each of these require very particular conditions like good working north light and acoustic isolation.

At the north end of the existing building, the lowest two floors are occupied by back-of-house functions and a large loading bay. Publicly accessible space in the existing library starts at first floor level, with an extended outside terrace facing the new building. This terrace also covers the service yard and creates a new focus for any future Library expansion on adjacent sites.