A £12 million gallery dedicated to science has been given the go-ahead by Southwark Council.
King’s College London has been given planning permission to build the Science Gallery in an historic part of Guy’s Hospital, in Borough.
The new gallery will be created at Guy’s Campus, Boland House, St Thomas Street, and is set to open in autumn 2017.
It will include a flexible exhibition, studio and performance spaces, a theatre, a café, a shop, and a restored Georgian courtyard. Locally-driven programmes will regularly change to entice visitors to return to the free space.
Money for the build was raised externally with £3million from the Wellcome Trust, £4million from Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and a further £5million from the Shard Funding Ltd.
Dr Daniel Glaser, Director of the Gallery, said: “Science Gallery at King’s College London will give us a completely new way to connect audiences with science, art and innovation.”
The Assistant principal at King’s College, Deborah Bull, stressed the importance of the building ensuring the importance of the college with the surrounding communities.
She said, it was set to be: “a focal point for building new connections that will help to ensure King’s is relevant to, and part of, the communities around us.”