Blackburn Cotton Exchange, Blackburn

The former Blackburn Cotton Exchange/Exchange Building is a Grade II listed building in the centre of the town, known for the reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens in 1869.

The building was converted into a cinema in 1924 when it was extended and major alterations undertaken, with further works to convert it into a multiplex cinema in the late 1970’s.

The building has been closed since 2005 and is in a poor state of repair, however it has been recently purchased by the Christian charity, Re:Source, with an aim to transform this redundant building into a vibrant, diverse destination for the town. The project to date has included a feasibility study with an options appraisal, condition survey, structural survey and heritage appraisal.

In the summer of 2017 we arranged for the building to be re-opened to the public for a celebration of the festival of making working in collaboration with the building owners Re:Source and artist group Lazerian with their wonderful installation ‘Chromatogram’.

Project started whilst at previous practice, ongoing work by Sanderson Borland.