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For over 70 years, the London Irish Centre in Camden has been a home from home for the city’s Celtic community. Not only is it where folk go for trad seisiúns, hurling screenings and Gaelic classes, but it’s where they can find help to get on their feet through community meals, wellbeing advice, support groups, befriending schemes and hardship grants. In other words, it’s long been an essential bedrock for those who hail from the Emerald Isle.
Now, it’s getting an enormous makeover. The London Irish Centre has appointed construction group Sisk as the main contractor for a £38 million redevelopment. A portion of the funding for the project has come from Irish government and the rest of it has largely come from donor pledges.
The new and improved building on Camden Square will have three floors instead of its current two, packed with cultural and wellbeing spaces. It’ll have London’s first dedicated Irish theatre, a multi-purpose performance space, a 130-seat studio theatre and cinema, a heritage and archive centre preserving the history of the Irish in Britain, a public library with over 7,000 Irish literary works, modern community, enterprise and learning spaces, welfare and support facilities, a multi-level bar, a cafe and dedicated spaces for artists, rehearsals and creative collaboration.
Work is expected to begin in 2027 and be finished in the first quarter of 2029. Regulars, don’t stress – while the construction takes place, the current London Irish Centre will stay operating. The welfare and support services will be based in local temporary offices while the cultural programme will run via partner venues across London.
Rosaleen Blair, chair of the London Irish Centre, said: ‘Today’s announcement is a huge milestone, which follows almost ten years of careful planning. In Sisk, we have engaged a world-class builder to deliver a world-class home, that matches the aspirations of the Irish diaspora in Britain.
‘To date, we have secured pledges covering a meaningful proportion of the estimated £36-38 million redevelopment cost, an extraordinary demonstration of confidence by our donors. As we prepare for this exciting transformation, our task going forward is to secure the remainder of this total, which is vital in underwriting our future.’
ICYMI: This old east London tram depot is being turned into a creative neighbourhood.
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