V&A East Storehouse to open 31 May 2025

Through a revolutionary new seven-day-a-week Order an Object service, V&A East Storehouse will make it easy for everyone to access all objects onsite, by booking in advance online for a time that suits them. Whether working on a school art project, starting a business, looking for inspiration for a DIY project, creating a new fashion collection, designing for stage or screen, or just wanting to see something that makes them happy, Order an Object exists to bring people closer to objects on their own terms, at a scale not possible anywhere else in the world.

A working store and hive of activity, through an extensive self-guided experience, visitors can explore why objects are collected, how they are cared for, conserved and displayed and the latest research emerging from the collections – as well as newly commissioned works and performances inspired by them. Alongside experiential installations and over 100 small, curated displays ‘hacked’ into the collection stores, there will be an ever-changing programme of live events and creative workshops and activities across two creative studios and two workshop spaces. There will also be spaces to relax and socialise.

Spanning four levels, and at 16,000m2 – bigger than 30+ basketball courts – V&A East Storehouse is home to over 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and nearly 1,000 archives. Taking over a large section of the former London 2012 Olympics Media and Broadcast Centre (now Here East), it’s designed to give unprecedented access and greater transparency, breaking down physical barriers and removing glass cases to get visitors closer than ever before to their national collections, and take them behind-the-scenes.

Empowering young people and opening pathways into the creative industries is fundamental to V&A East. To date, the team has engaged with over 30,000 local people and creatives through consultation, its flagship Your Collection: V&A East in Schools programme, Youth Collective, career and mentoring initiatives, preopening events and activities, artist retreats, and drop-in making sessions. Across its two sites, V&A East will create over 70 new jobs for those living in the four Olympic boroughs, with recruitment beginning in October 2024.

V&A East Storehouse is the first of V&A East’s two new sites to open. The second, V&A East Museum, is scheduled to open in spring 2026, and celebrates making and creativity’s power to bring change. Created with young people and rooted in east London’s heritage, V&A East Museum explores what’s shaping our world with the voices that lead contemporary culture.

Tim Reeve, Deputy Director and COO of the V&A, and Chair of the East Bank Board, said: “The opening of V&A East Storehouse next May delivers on our ambition to create a new standard for access to national collections, in an area of London with such a rich creative heritage and vibrant and talented creative community. As a key part of East Bank and the London 2012 Olympic legacy, V&A East resonates powerfully with our original mission to inspire creativity and support the creative industries. Through V&A East Storehouse, visitors will be encouraged to immerse themselves in the magical behind-the-scenes world of museums and empowered to make their own journeys through the V&A’s global collections. Our world-first Order an Object experience opens up the V&A’s collections to everyone on their own terms, and on a scale never possible before. We hope this will shift the dial in creating more transparent and personalised experiences, and for everyone to find their own inspiration in V&A East Storehouse.”