Additional £50m pledged towards London Museum redevelopment

London's authorities have given a £50m funding boost to the newly renamed London Museum towards its Smithfield Market redevelopment.

The Mayor of London and the City of London Corporation will each contribute an additional £25m towards the £437m project, while the museum itself, which recently rebranded with a new name and logo, will fundraise £30m.

Designed by Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working with conservation architect Julian Harrap, the London Museum redevelopment is one of Europe's largest cultural infrastructure projects.

The ambitious project will transform the historic Smithfield Market near Farringdon in central London into a home for the museum’s collections. The site will be one of the only cultural institutions in the world with an operational underground train line running through it, which visitors will be able to observe through a window in the galleries.

The project will open in two phases: the Victorian General Market, housing the museum’s permanent galleries, will open in 2026 while the adjacent 1960s-era Poultry Market, home the museum’s learning centre, temporary exhibition spaces and collection stores, will open in 2028.

The latest pledge brings the Mayor of London’s overall contribution to £95m and the City of London Corporation's funding to £222m.

The museum’s new fundraising commitment increases its overall target to £100m, with £45m of that target already secured through private donations, sponsors, and philanthropy.

The museum says it will explore green loan opportunities to achieve the remaining £20m towards its target.

“Thousands of Londoners are helping to shape this fantastic new museum which will not only explore our city’s rich history but the people and places that make it such a vibrant place to be,” said London Museum director, Sharon Ament.

“With the generous support of the GLA and the City of London Corporation, alongside our other funders and supporters, we are steaming ahead to deliver a transformative, world-leading museum that will be worthy of this great global capital.”

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan added: “Culture is the DNA of our city, and I am proud that we’re such an integral part of the creation of the new London Museum at Smithfield. It is one of the biggest cultural projects in Europe and will be a brilliant addition to London’s world-leading cultural sector.

“It will attract Londoners and tourists from around the world, generate new jobs and reinforce our position as a global creative capital, as we continue to build a better and fairer London for everyone.”

Project update

Work on the complex redevelopment project began in 2019 and the restoration efforts and early works in the General Market are already complete.

In 2023, a three-metre-wide glass oculus was craned in to become the centrepiece of the General Market’s dome roof.

Work is now underway to frame the internal spaces that will house the museum’s permanent galleries.

At the Poultry Market, the four-year-long restoration of the building’s copper roof was successfully completed by hand by the 83-year-old coppersmith Chris Johnson, who was an apprentice on the original 1960s build.

The museum gained vacant possession of the Poultry Market in September 2023 and interior restorations are now underway, including work to connect the ground floor and basement levels.

In addition to two temporary exhibition spaces and a learning centre on the ground floor, the building’s former basement cold stores will be transformed into a working collections facility with a publicly accessible store and display space.

The redevelopment team had to redraw some of their plans after the discovery of a huge network of Victorian vaults under the general market.

The rat-infested 800 sq m space lay hidden until building works began five years ago and has since been cleared and partially restored. The museum is still considering what to do with the space.