British Library Extension
Presentation | 09:45 – 10:25 | Auditorium 1
Main Themes
Innovation | Sustainability | People | Place | Wellbeing
The Session
A once-in-a-generation development is set to extend the British Library’s site in St Pancras by approximately 100,000 square metres. As well as growing the Library itself, the new site will provide opportunities for local communities, spaces for commercial activity, and a new home for the Alan Turing Institute.
In this panel discussion, the lead partners working on the development from Stanhope PLC, Mitsui Fudosan, and the British Library will discuss the ambitions for the site, the benefits to surrounding communities, and significance of being in the heart of the Knowledge Quarter.
The Speakers
CHARLES WALFORD, Director, Stanhope PLC
Charles is a Director at Stanhope and specialises in the development process including securing new opportunities and managing all aspects of pre-development including planning and de-risking and has a specific interest and expertise in Life Science. He has worked on major mixed use projects including Ruskin Square and Television Centre and is currently heading up the British Library extension project.
DAVID HEIGHT RIBA FRSA, Managing Director, Design & Engineering, Mitsui Fudosan UK Ltd
David is an architect by training, and spent 16 years working at Arup and Arup Associates on a range of masterplans and building design projects. Before joining Arup, he spent 5 years working and studying in Japan, following a Daiwa Foundation Scholarship, working in the design department of Kajima.
He reconnected with his Japanese interests when approached by Mitsui Fudosan in 2015, and has been responsible for Mitsui’s design and planning input to projects including White City Place, the new extension to the British Library, the second phase to the Television Centre development, South Molton Street Triangle in Mayfair, and a new office development in Shoreditch in partnership with Edge Technologies. Having worked on a range of life science masterplans for Arup, including the new HQ for Astra Zeneca in Cambridge, GSK in Ulverston, and the University of Cambridge Biocentrum campus, he has continue to pursue the potential for the British Library and White City as new paradigms for life science districts. The Mitsui developments at White City and the British Library are part of a wider international initiative by Mitsui in Tokyo, Boston and San Francisco in life science cluster-forming.
LISA WEBB, Partner, Gerald Eve
Lisa is a Partner in Gerald Eve’s Planning and Development department and a member of the Executive Board. She was a founding partner of Moseley & Webb before they merged with Gerald Eve in September 2007.
Her background and expertise are in complex high profile commercial, retail, hotel, residential and mixed-use developments and regeneration projects across London.
She is also planning advisor to, and Board Member and Treasurer of, the City Property Association (CPA).
She advises leading UK and international owners, developers, investors and occupiers.
JERRY SHILLITO, Head of Operations South, British Library
After 20 years’ experience within production and operations environments in the private sector, Jerry joined the British Library in 2005 and is responsible for the Library’s front-facing services supporting researchers from all backgrounds and areas of interest. This includes the Library’s twelve Reading Rooms and the provision of information services to both on-site and remote customers. Jerry has also worked extensively on delivering major Library projects such as the Additional Storage and National Newspaper Buildings at the Library’s Boston Spa site, and the relocation of the its newspaper services to new facilities in St Pancras and the refurbished Boston Spa Reading Room.
Since 2016, Jerry has held overall responsibility for the Library’s St Pancras Transformed Programme. In this role he is responsible for the future development of the Library’s St Pancras site as a whole and has overseen a number of transformational changes to its existing public spaces.
The Organisations
