A vision for Exhibition Road: a space for the new century

Exhibition Road in South Kensington is not only home to the V&A but also to an extraordinary cluster of world class institutions including the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Imperial College, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Geographical Society and the Royal College of Art.

A scheme to transform this area  was recently launched by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in partnership with Westminster City Council and the Mayor of London.

The £35m-scheme, designed by internationally acclaimed architects Dixon Jones, aims to turn the area into one of the finest streetscapes in London and to create a greater awareness, from the moment of arrival, of the wealth of cultural and educational activities of the great institutions based around it.

The scheme has the full support of all the South Kensington institutions and will support and enable the £600 million of investment planned by the cultural and educational institutions in the area on capital projects.

Representatives of the institutions, including the V&A , have formed a Cultural Group, to support and feed into the infrastructure work of the project, and to ensure that the evolving designs for the Exhibition Road area reflect the institutions' vision of this as one of London's most dynamic, creative, innovative and accessible quarters.

The Cultural Group will provide limited funds to enable members to work together on joint activities and events. Planning has already started for the first set of joint events, which are to take place in 2005/6.

Participating institutions

• City of Westminster

• Goethe Institut

• Imperial College

• Institut Francais

• Ismaeli Centre

• National Museum of Science and Industry

• Natural History Museum

• Royal Albert Hall

• Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

• Royal College of Art

• Royal College of Music

• Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851

• Royal Geographical Society

• Royal Parks

• Serpentine Gallery

• Victoria and Albert Museum