Kent History and Library Centre
A flagship centre for Kent
The Kent History and Library
Centre is due for completion in spring 2012
The Kent
History and Library Centre being built at James Whatman Way,
Maidstone, will make more of our collections available under
one roof, giving local people state of the art facilities and
better access to Kent's rich culture and heritage. Whilst the
builders are busy on site, our staff and a team of volunteers are
working hard to prepare and repackage the collections for the
move.
As part of the project, Bouygues
Development and Warings will also build residential properties on
behalf of housing and care providers Housing 21 and West Kent
Housing Association.
The new centre is being purpose
built to protect and give people
access to more of our archive material, and to provide a 21st century
library in the heart of Kent. It will house around 14
kilometres of historic material relating to Kent dating back to 699 AD and will be
the place to come for anyone interested in local history. There
will also be a community history area, archive search room, digital
studio, free public internet
access and wifi, and a large space for displays and
events.
Designs
The following illustrations, created by the architect, show what
the new building could look like.
County Central Library
In preparation for our move to the Kent History and Library
Centre,
County Central Library (CCL) has now closed to the
public.
The Music and Drama collection that was originally at
CCL has been moved to
Gibson Drive at Kings Hill.
Centre for Kentish Studies and East Kent Archives Centre
The Centre for Kentish Studies and East Kent
Archives Centre have now
closed permanently to the public. For
more information see
our poster (PDF, 357k).
Tell us what you think
Thank you to everyone for your
thoughts, comments and suggestions about the project so far.
We'd still like hear what you have to say, you can contact us by
emailing LHC.ProjectTeam@kent.gov.uk.
