Barbican to close its doors for a year for multimillion-pound renovation
The Barbican will close its doors for 12 months from June 2028 as it undergoes a multimillion-pound renovation that its leaders say will secure its future.The arts organisation’s Beech Street cinemas will remain open but its theatre, music venue, conservatory and visual arts galleries are set to shutter as the overhaul of the 43-year-old building begins in the lead-up to its 50th anniversary in 2032.The main Barbican site will close its doors in June 2028 and reopen in June 2029, but some disruption will happen before that as the foyer, lakeside area and internal control room are all renovated.The conservatory, which is open only for a few hours at the weekend and currently has netting to stop falling glass, will close earlier, in 2027.Philippa Simpson, the director of buildings and renewal at the Barbican, said the work could not be completed while the site was open to the public as it would be too dangerous, but that it was essential to secure the site’s future.
“If we want it for another 50, then you’ve got to rip the plaster off and do it now and let it thrive for the next 50 and not just limp along,” Simpson said.During the renovation, the building’s ventilation system will need to be shut off, rendering it unsafe, while major jobs – such as replacing electrical systems and safe removal of asbestos – will require closures.The work will also reduce the Barbican’s carbon use by 40%, according to Simpson.It is only the second time in its history that it will have closed for a sustained period, the other being during the Covid-19 pandemic.That means the London Symphony Orchestra, which has called the Barbican home since it opened, must perform elsewhere, as will the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dame Kathryn McDowell, the orchestra’s managing director, said the LSO was committed to providing a 2028-29 season “across London and the UK” and confirmed that the LSO St Luke’s venue would remain open throughout the closure of the Barbican.The Barbican also plans to continue having a presence in the capital, with events outside of its City of London base.“When we talk about closure, there’s a physical side of it, but actually, existentially we’re still present,” Simpson said.It is not clear what will happen for the 400 Barbican staff, who were informed of the closure on Thursday evening.The organisation did not rule out redundancies, saying all options were being considered.
Secondments at the Barbican’s founder and main funder, the City of London Corporation, were another potential option,Simpson said: “Obviously, we’re already talking to unions and will work really, really closely with them,It will be done in consultation as transparently and as carefully as we possibly can and make sure that it’s actually worked through rather than rushing,”The GMB senior organiser Lisa Bangs said the union welcomed the “much-needed refurbishment” but would be pushing for casual and permanent staff to keep their jobs,She said: “We want to ensure that staff are retained and protected during these works and we will always advocate strongly for our members.
The Barbican have been in touch and we look forward to working constructively with them as plans develop.”The Barbican has just announced a new chief executive, Abigail Pogson, who will oversee the capital project, the first major renewal work in its history.She is the latest arrival at an organisation that has had several changes in leadership over the past five years.In 2021, Sir Nicholas Kenyon resigned as managing director after staff told the Guardian that the Barbican was “institutionally racist”.He was followed by the former BBC arts correspondent Will Gompertz, who left to join the Sir John Soane’s Museum after being in the job for only two years.
Devyani Saltzman started as director of arts and participation in 2024, and is one of seven senior leaders installed after the Barbican replaced the managing director model.They all report to Pogson, who will start in January 2026.The Barbican first revealed plans for the renovation work in May this year.The grade II-listed cultural destination had “deteriorated significantly” over the years and needed significant work done to improve it, according to the plan.The first phase of the project will cost £231m and be led by Simpson, who did a similar job for the Young V&A in east London, which won museum of the year in 2024.
The overall bill is estimated to be £451m.Opened in 1982, the Barbican arts centre is a unique cultural institution.The centre’s cultural offering was originally primarily designed for the 4,000 residents of the flats set around the site.Today, more than 1.5 million people visit annually, making it one of the most popular cultural attractions in the UK.
Senior opponents of assisted dying bill urge Lords not to deliberately block it
Senior opponents of assisted dying legislation have called on peers not to hold up the progress of the bill through parliament, warning there was a serious danger of the Lords losing democratic legitimacy.Many supporters now admit the bill is in serious danger of running out of time in the Lords before the end of the parliamentary session, meaning it will fail to pass, because of the slow pace of considering more than 1,000 amendments means the bill will probably run out of time for a vote.In a letter to the Guardian, two former ministers, Justin Madders and Dame Nia Griffith, and another select committee chair, Debbie Abrahams, who previously opposed the substance of the bill have now urged peers not to deliberately filibuster it.Just 80 of more than 1,150 tabled amendments have been covered during three days of debate. However, some opponents of the bill say the lengthy consideration of amendments is normal for a complex issue and that it has been up to peers to attempt to address a series of significant concerns about the bill, including from key professional bodies like the Royal College of Psychiatrists
‘We don’t have enough rooms to isolate’: NHS doctor reveals impact of rise in flu cases
As cases of flu rise sharply across the UK, the Guardian spoke to Amir Hassan, an emergency medicine consultant and the divisional medical director at Epsom and St Helier University hospitals NHS trust, who shared his views.“We’re seeing increased numbers of patients coming through, a lot of them with respiratory-type illnesses. It means we need to try to isolate these patients and treat them – so they’ll come in with shortness of breath, [and a] cough.And while the numbers are going up, we’re still getting the other patients coming in with falls and heart attacks and trauma. It puts pressure on the emergency department, and it puts pressure on the wards because you’re increasing the number of respiratory patients you’re managing
NHS ‘facing worst-case scenario’ as hospital flu cases jump 55% in a week
The NHS is facing its “worst-case scenario” for flu cases this month across England after the number of people in hospital with the illness increased by 55% in a week.An average of 2,660 patients a day were in an NHS hospital bed with flu, up from 1,717 last week and the highest ever for this time of year. By comparison, in the same week last year the number of patients in hospital with flu stood at 1,861, compared with 402 in 2023.Prof Meghana Pandit, the NHS national medical director, said the number of patients in hospital with flu was “extremely high for this time of year”.“With record demand for A&E and ambulances and an impending resident doctors strike, this unprecedented wave of super flu is leaving the NHS facing a worst-case scenario for this time of year – with staff being pushed to the limit to keep providing the best possible care for patients,” Pandit said
Starmer says resident doctors would be irresponsible to strike in face of flu crisis
Keir Starmer has said resident doctors would be irresponsible to push ahead with strikes next week after NHS England said a surge of “super flu” cases had left the service facing its worst-case scenario this winter.Ministers presented the British Medical Association with a fresh offer on training places on Wednesday night in a last-ditch attempt to avert strikes.The BMA is consulting its members on the proposals, raising hopes of a breakthrough, despite its leaders saying they do nothing to address their concerns on pay.The prime minister urged resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – to “do the responsible thing, accept the offer that’s on the table, and we can all move forward”.“They are being irresponsible in my view
‘This country’s divided’: how a Sunderland charity is changing that – one house, park and shop at a time
Far-right rhetoric fuelled rioting here in 2024, but Back on the Map is helping to unite the community, through good accommodation, new shops, and an aim to genuinely uplift and improve people’s lives Donate to the Guardian Charity Appeal 2025 here Communities are our defence against hatred. Now, more than ever, we must invest in hopeWhen 47-year-old shop assistant Claire Carter was younger, her mother told her to “never live on the long streets” – terrace-lined roads about half a mile long that lead from the centre of Hendon, Sunderland, to the sea. These six streets have a reputation for being “full of wrong ’uns, full of stolen cars, places getting smashed up”, she says. Close by is Fletcher’s News & Booze, the shop where Tommy Robinson hosted a book signing in 2017 that ended in physical fights and 21 arrests.Sunderland more widely has been a key site for far-right politics: in 2024 violent anti-Muslim riots broke out after misinformation spread on social media, suggesting that the man behind fatal stabbings at a children’s dance class in Southport was an illegal migrant
Online child sexual abuse surges by 26% in year as police say tech firms must act
Online child sexual abuse in England and Wales has surged by a quarter within a year, figures show, prompting police to call for social media platforms to do more to protect young people.Becky Riggs, the acting chief constable of Staffordshire police, called for tech companies to use AI tools to automatically prevent indecent pictures from being uploaded and shared on their sites.Riggs, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse, said: “I know that these platforms, with the technology that’s out there, could prevent these harms from occurring in the first instance.”She added that technology used by children should come with inbuilt protections, such as mobile phones that allow them to only access safe platforms and websites.Police statistics show that 122,768 child sexual exploitation offences in England and Wales were recorded in 2024, an increase of 6% on the previous year
MPs announce inquiry into work of Office for Budget Responsibility
Drax plans to convert part of its North Yorkshire power plant into datacentre
Elon Musk teams with El Salvador to bring Grok chatbot to public schools
Disney wants you to AI-generate yourself into your favorite Marvel movie
Littler lights up Ally Pally opening night as prize money raises stakes
Leinster’s Leo Cullen will use lessons learned at Leicester in bid to tame Tigers