Huge news just in via the following press release from London’s Southbank Centre! Sadiq Khan has awarded Long Live Southbank and the Southbank Centre a grant whereby any money raised will be matched, to a maximum of £700k. Read on…

“Today Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has awarded Long Live Southbank and Southbank Centre a community growth and development grant of £700k to develop the Queen Elizabeth Hall Undercroft as an extended skate space and inclusive new children and young people’s creative education centre.

The Undercroft, on London’s South Bank, will receive this grant as part of the Mayor of London’s £70 million Good Growth Fund, which drives investments in community growth and development across the capital. Today’s Mayoral announcement sees £24 million allocated to 27 projects across the capital, from over 200 submitted funding bids, that will deliver social and economic improvements including investment in community assets, workspaces, green infrastructure and cultural venues.

The upcoming reconfiguration of the existing Undercroft sees an extension of this internationally renowned skate space, including improvements to lighting and a restoration of original 1960s banks and concrete paving. The creation of a new educational centre will sit alongside this, enabling children and young people to engage in wide-ranging learning and creative activities curated by Southbank Centre. The collaborative development will benefit local residents and wider communities including visitors to London and the capital’s cultural landscape as a whole.

Today’s announced funding grant builds on the joint crowdfunding campaign for this space, launched by Long Live Southbank and Southbank Centre in June last year, which has seen support from the international skateboarding community, general public, businesses and philanthropists.”