The Building Centre

Architecture + Design, every professional and aspiring student of the profession can enter this centre and explore. The basement has a fantastic display of products for every service you need. And they have options! 3,000 companies with information from plumbing,insulation,flooring,cladding............and so on are kept in a treasure room. The icing on the cake is you get to see the product live at the exhibit before contacting the dealer.

If your wanting to take up an ambitious project of house build by yourself, The Information Centre as its called is the place to sit and share your ideas with a consultant. They then tell you all about the company and its services including contact details.

Showcase Gallery has a permanent exhibition of London on a 1:500 scale and every new building commissioned is put up in this model. You can see London grow. The gallery has a few short term displays too on projects in education centres, community centres etc.......from drawings,presentations,slide shows,model sample,material...everything one can think about a complete project is available on display.

And last but not the least, the Bookshop is always an attraction. Oh the wide variety of design books on display are truly ideal to sit and read.

Its an important business centre for everybody especially professional designers.

At the cafe in the reception space you might get to see glimpses of famous architects such as Peter Cook, Zaha Hadid.

Great value visitors centre for the building trade
Its free. Its well curated.It showcases short shows
Has excellent free lectures, sells products,research
& conference faciities. A large information zone.
An Eco zone gallery dedicated to show casing a range of products for sustainable design
What I love most is the 3D map of London : a MUST SEE!
(get on the mailing list for all online information &
a catalogue)

Popped in to see the 'London Grows Up' exhibition and was blown away! There are three rooms of models, photos, display boards and videos showing the buildings of central London - both present and planned.

It's completely free and we spent two hours there, and felt that we hadn't done it justice. There is also a trade display section at the back with interesting stuff to look at - various heating/cooling systems, 3D printed models, lift options etc. although not technically what we came for, it was pretty fascinating.

They also have a little cafe (which we didn't try) but looks great. They also have plenty of loos down in the basement.

I would highly recommend going along to take a look, it's brilliant!

I have been visiting the Building Centre since the late 1990s. It regularly hosts construction industry events (the basement includes three good-sized conference rooms, with wifi, but without natural light - so they can get a bit oppressive if you're there for a whole day), and has a permanent exhibition space and cafe on the ground floor. As a result, I often use the cafe as a convenient meeting place.

The cafe serves a limited selection of freshly prepared hot snacks, but does some very good coffee (though the cups are a little on the small side for me). There are about ten tables - all within sight of the Building Centre's revolving door entrance.

For those with time to spare (or maybe a disinclination to wander up and down nearby Tottenham Court Road), the huge scale model of central and east London is well worth inspection, giving an overview of just where all future redevelopment is scheduled to take place. And the ever-changing content of the exhibition space can be rewarding too.

About a year ago I wanted to go there, but had not the time to do so when I visited London. Now that I am living here I sort of forgot about this place, and today I passed by it by accident. Of course I went in to take a look.


I did not tour through all exhibitions there, but alone the big 3D model of London, outlining important development projects like the CrossRail etc. is worth a visit!


If you are interested in urban development and architecture, this is definitely a place you should not miss in London.

Amazing model of central London and the future of development for the city. Also hosts other technology related exhibits from time to time. I went to one that included some cool VR tech. There's also loads of showrooms downstairs with products for the home.

A helpful place to find information for designing your own home/building, or other new builds. There is a to-scale 3D map of London, including train links, and the 2012 Olympic sights. There is an ever-changing exhibition on, as well as an information center, a book shop and a cafe all spread across 3 floors. The book shop is very useful for specialist; building, design and architecture related books.


5 mins walk from Goodge st Station.

Many people wouldn't realize this place is open to the public as you have to go through big glass doors into what looks like a workplace. In the entrance there are usually exhibitions about the latest ideas for architecture and development in London, and cards you can write your views upon to stick on the wall. Further inside are some showhome sections, and a bookshop selling works on architecture, construction, self-build and D.I.Y., and related magazines. Worth popping in if you're passing even if you're not an enthusiast, as the development proposals affect us all.

This place houses small scaled model buildings of Central London. There you will also be able to see the roads and tube lines in Central London. It is a great place to go if you don't really know the roads in London or just want to know London better. In its 3D format instead of a map it is easier to visualise where things are in London. These models are fantastic. If you like architecture and being able to see the fantastic buildings you see in Central London up close, it is a great place to visit.