Transforming our Boston Spa site

We're transforming our West Yorkshire site in Boston Spa, creating essential, sustainable and cutting-edge storage facilities that will allow our ever-expanding collection to keep growing long into the future. Connecting people all over the world with an infinite number of possibilities and ideas.

Making space for our collection and for ideas

Making space for our collection and for ideas

These changes will safeguard our collection for the next half a century. But they'll also improve our impact on the environment through new energy-saving measures, including the installation of solar panels and a ground source heat pump system to run our operations here more sustainably. We'll enhance our landscape increasing the biodiversity of the site by up to 40% and we will revolutionise how we store and share the stories in our archives, reflecting what it means to be a national library today.

As well as building new capacity for our collection, we’ll breathe new life into this former munitions factory. Continuing to shine a light on the thousands of years of knowledge that this living collection holds, and giving visitors, schools and community groups the chance to see behind the scenes and discover how 21st-century robotic technology powers each new journey of discovery at the Library.

This £95 million redevelopment has been made possible thanks to significant government investment through DCMS, together with funding from The Foyle Foundation.

Why we're doing this

Why we're doing this

We're running out of space. Our 44-acre Boston Spa campus, formerly a Second World War munitions factory, is home to over three-quarters of our collection of over 170 million items.

The words and thoughts contained within it have long helped people to uncover the answers they're looking for. But to keep sparking and sharing new ideas we need to create space for them too.

Our growing collection requires about 8 linear km of new shelving annually. By the end of this decade our current storage facilities will be full. We need to significantly increase our capacity to care for the national collection for future generations.

To address this we're constructing a new state-of-the-art storage facility. We're also using this opportunity to significantly reduce the environmental impact of our West Yorkshire site with the introduction of more renewable energy sources and the demolition of outdated buildings.

Thanks additionally to funding from The Foyle Foundation, this project will transform public engagement at Boston Spa, enabling us to open up our collection to more people with the introduction of a public viewing gallery (Foyle Viewing Gallery) and learning spaces (Foyle Learning Centre).

How we will do this

Sustainability is central to this project. We’re aiming to make this development low carbon, with an emphasis on renewable energy and energy conservation.

Working with a team of specialist partners including architect Carmody Groarke, landscape designers J&L Gibbons, and our main contractor Wates Construction Limited, the development includes:

construction of a new generation high-density, low-energy, airtight, automated storage building with 225 linear kilometres storage capacity
removal of outdated and environmentally inefficient buildings
landscaping of the surrounding site, making the most of the natural environment and enhancing local biodiversity
a new, publicly accessible viewing gallery and spaces for learning

We have already made energy-saving improvements to the site, including the installation of 730 solar panels, a new ground source heat pump system, smart meters and better insulation.

When will this happen?

Staircase with visitors inside Boston Spa facility

When will this happen?

Work to date

Since our planning application to Leeds City Council was approved in 2021, we've completed demolition and enabling works, staff have been relocated onsite and some of our collection has been temporarily removed in order to ensure it is protected. Construction of our new storage facility has also begun.

2024 onwards

At the end of 2025 we will complete the construction of the storage facility. The internal fit-out will follow in early 2026 and we plan to open our new facilities by mid-2026.

Will this affect Readers?

You may notice some changes while we redevelop the site to create more storage capacity. As with any construction project there will be unavoidable periods of noise and disruption. Keep an eye on our social media channels and signs onsite for alerts about particularly disruptive works.

We plan to keep the Reading Room at Boston Spa open while we make these improvements, but access to some sections of our collection may be disrupted as we move millions of items around the site to make way for the new storage facilities. If you're a Reader, please check our website before you visit in case of any changes. We'll also email you with any updates.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about this project, you can email us at BSRTeam@bl.uk.

For all media enquiries please contact us at press@bl.uk.