Encompassing galleries, a learning studio, public gardens, a shop and a café, the renamed Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will be the national centre for illustration: a destination for art-lovers, illustrators, families, schools and colleges; and the catalyst for exhibitions and activities across the UK. It will also become a permanent home for the archive of the organisation’s founder, Sir Quentin Blake, with selections from his archive of more than 40,000 works on permanent display.

New River Head in Islington takes its name from the reservoir at the head of the New River, the channel cut in 1604–13 to supply London with clean drinking water from springs in Hertfordshire – a civil engineering achievement vital to the development of the city. The historic site has been inaccessible to the public for the past 70 years and includes the atmospheric remains of one of very few surviving windmills in London, as well as a spectacular 19th-century engine house.

Tim Ronalds Architects has developed a sensitive scheme to repurpose the four 18th- and 19th-century industrial buildings and half an acre of surrounding land as the new Centre. 

House of Illustration has already raised 38 per cent of its £12m target. With planning permission now in place, the balance is set to be raised through individual donations, grants from trusts and foundations and a public fundraising campaign, enabling work to begin this year and the centre to open at the end of 2023.

“This is a significant milestone in our project to establish the national centre for illustration. Tim Ronalds’ inspiring architectural scheme will open up the fascinating sights and stories of New River Head, creating spaces where everyone can enjoy, examine and take part in the graphic arts,” said Lindsey Glen, director of the House of Illustration.