Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, Project Update

11 February 2026

Transformation of a Grade II listed engine house into the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.

Set to become the UK’s only dedicated space for illustration, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration will include exhibition spaces, cafe, library, educational spaces, new foyer and visitor facilities.

Eckersley O’Callaghan is providing both structural and civil engineering services on this heritage project, balancing both the reward and responsibility that comes with working on heritage sites.

The New River Head site has a history stretching back over 500 years, playing a crucial role in the revolutionary infrastructure that supplied clean water to London, enabling its expansion as one of the world’s most important cities. Built in 1768, the engine house housed steam-powered engines to pump water and enable it to flow up hill to higher parts of the city. The site still provides water to the city to this day, and we have been challenged with a highly congested site which includes large underground services both in and around the buildings.

We have designed the new foyer’s structure and its connected building as demountable, spanning between the two existing buildings enabling future access for water repairs. The main gallery spaces within the engine house are also built over live water pipes and are designed for both future access and to resist burst water main pressures. Externally the site is equally congested, we have avoided digging where possible and have hidden the site’s stormwater attenuation tank within the access ramp.

Heritage Lottery funding required our team to provide cost-effective structural solutions whilst taking into consideration the essential repair works, and the structural interventions required to open this fascinating, unused piece of infrastructure to the public.

A second floor has been added to the engine house using the capacity of the existing masonry walls to provide support. The centre of the engine house, housing the original beam and pump, has been sensitively opened to form the new staircase. The adjacent coal stores have been reroofed, new openings and new floors have been added to form the new temporary gallery spaces.

We’re excited to explore the unseen fabric of the building during construction, and to see its transformation come to life.