Community news
We aim to keep you updated with news relevant to the local community during the course of the project’s lifetime. Please look out for updates which we will post on a regular basis.
British Library extension team enjoys a successful day at the Somers Town Festival
The British Library extension (BLE) project team was delighted to be part of this year’s Somers Town Festival recently (Saturday 11 July), joining the local community for an afternoon of enjoyment in the heart of the neighbourhood.
A much-anticipated annual event, the Somers Town Festival brings together people of all ages to celebrate the area’s community and its achievements through live entertainment, activities, stalls selling a wide range of things to eat and drink and opportunities to meet the organisations helping to shape the future of the local area. As one of the highlights of the community calendar, the Festival provides an invaluable opportunity to engage with residents in a welcoming setting.
Throughout the event, the BLE project team hosted an interactive stall featuring a range of fun, construction-themed activities designed for children and families. The activities offered an enjoyable and educational introduction to the world of construction, aimed at inspiring younger visitors while encouraging conversations about the sort of skills and careers involved in delivering major projects like the BLE.
Alongside these various activities, members of the project team were on hand to speak with local residents and answer questions about the BLE. Many people welcomed the inclusion of new public spaces within the proposals, while recognising the opportunities the extension will create for the local community.
Community engagement remains central to the BLE project, and attending the Somers Town Festival is an important part of the team’s ongoing commitment to maintaining an open dialogue with local people. The team looks forward to returning to the Festival each year throughout the project’s lifetime to provide updates, listen to feedback and continue building strong relationships with the community.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the stall. We look forward to seeing familiar and new faces again at future community events as the BLE project progresses!
A special thank you also to Morgan Lovell for their generous support of the festival, as well as the volunteers from Arup, RHSP, Mace and Redwood who helped make the event a success.
Salima Abdallah appointed as Community Engagement Manager for British Library extension project
Somers Town Community Association (STCA) has appointed a Community Engagement Manager (CEM) to work on behalf of Stanhope Mitsui British Library Developments Ltd (SMBL) and the British Library as the key point of contact between local people and community and business groups in the Somers Town area and the delivery of the £1.1 billion British Library extension.
Salima Abdallah previously worked as a Local Opportunities Programme Manager at the British Library for more than two years. Her appointment to the CEM role offers a clear opportunity for the project to build and sustain close relationships with the local community, as well as to create and manage social value for Somers Town residents based on the significant long-term benefits which the development will bring to Camden.
Sarah Elie MBE, Executive Director STCA, said: “Salima’s appointment is great news both for the British Library extension project itself and for those people living and working in the wider Somers Town area. Salima is vastly experienced and has a wide range of established community connections in Camden. The STCA is about inclusiveness and diversity, community and collaboration; it’s about working for change and growing together. Against the backdrop of these values, Salima is ideally placed to manage effective community engagement across all stakeholders from Somers Town residents to Camden Council and all existing – as well as future – tenants in the Knowledge Quarter.”
The CEM will be based across both STCA’s main centre and the St Pancras and Somers Town Living Centre, the latter being a community centre run and managed by STCA in partnership with the Living Centre Partners where local people and organisations help to co-design, deliver and use projects that help tackle their own health, wellbeing, economic and social issues. The Centre is funded by the Francis Crick Institute.
Salima Abdallah, CEM for the BLE project said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be taking on this role at such an important moment for one of London’s most high-profile developments.
“What makes it special is the opportunity to bridge the connection between local people and the project. Over the coming months, I’ll be listening, building relationships and delivering social value projects shaped by local priorities, including the co-design of a new community garden. In addition, I will be engaging with stakeholders on progress of the development and ensuring that our social value goals are fully aligned and integrated with the ESG goals of tenants. This role is about amplifying local voices and sharing the wider benefits of the development and I believe that I am well placed to rise to the challenge it presents.”
Charles Walford of Stanhope PLC said: “We are delighted to be working with STCA and Salima in this newly-created role. Salima’s appointment will help ensure delivery of the project’s social value from design through to construction and occupation, encouraging the occupiers of the new development – both the British Library and commercial tenants still to be confirmed – to continue the focus on social value already established at the project’s outset nearly a decade ago.”