Riverside Studios Archive

  • Clients:

    Riverside Trust

  • Locations:

    Hammersmith, London

  • Programme:

    2016-2017

  • Architects:

    Flanagan Lawrence

  • Cragg Duties:

    Management and Maintenance Plan

Project Details:

CM produced a ten-year Management and Maintenance Plan (MMP) for Riverside Studios Archive. The MMP, submitted as part of a successful National Lottery Heritage Fund Round 2 application in 2017, was produced for a new facility at Riverside Studios.

Riverside Studios is an arts and community centre in Hammersmith, combining live arts with a television studio. The studios were established in 1976 under the directorship of Peter Gill, and Riverside quickly grew to be a leading London performance venue with a reputation for innovative programming, including the presentation of a great variety of international productions and the founding of an influential art gallery. After forty years as a major international arts platform, Riverside had amassed an extensive archive which includes programmes, posters, scripts, production notes, correspondence, press cuttings, photographs, and audio and video cassettes. The archive pertains to many aspects of the organisation’s activity over four decades. The original Riverside Studios closed in September 2014. It was, and had been for some time, in need of substantial repair which was not cost effective to undertake. A major capital redevelopment project began at which point Riverside’s old building closed. New building costs were funded through the sale of Riverside’s lease to development partners Mount Anvil, the company which will become the overall leaseholder and in turn, grant Riverside a 200-year lease on four floors of the building.

In 2019 Riverside Studios will reopen on the original site housed in the new building with Riverside Studios occupying parts of it along with 165 dwellings. Riverside’s occupation of the building will signify its becoming London’s pre-eminent space for creative performance, innovation and inspiration. Riverside TV Studios will be the first occupants of the new Riverside space. Restaurant and bar activity will follow soon after, as will the archive, the concern of CM’s MMP. ARC: Riverside’s Archive is a discrete project within the wider context of the new building development. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the archive project will provide costs for the fit out for an archive store and reading room; for new staff posts; and also, for an extensive programme of activities designed to engage wider audiences with the archive.

Funding:

  • The National Lottery Heritage Fund