London finally has a museum dedicated to centuries of migration to the city.

After a 10-year journey, the Migration Museum has been given the green light for a permanent home in the central London.

The City of London has approved plans for a new development in the heart of London’s financial district which will provide a state-of-the-art permanent home for the Migration Museum on the bottom three floors of a new student accommodation development.

The new venue, close to Fenchurch Street, Aldgate and the Tower of London, will provide a permanent home for a Migration Museum for Britain exploring how the movement of people to and from the UK has shaped the nation – as individuals, communities, and as nations. 

The new museum will encompass interactive temporary and permanent exhibition galleries, flexible event and education space, outdoor areas for programming and activation and a cafe/restaurant and shop.

The Museum will be allied to a network of venues across the UK providing a platform for people to explore and share migration stories and our connections to each other.

The Migration Museum is currently based in a temporary venue in the heart of Lewisham Shopping Centre, in south-east London, where it welcomes around 7,000 visitors a month to its exhibitions, events and learning programs.

Migration Museum CEO Sophie Henderson said: “We are delighted to have secured this opportunity for a permanent home for the Migration Museum. We are creating Britain’s missing museum, exploring how the movement of people to and from the City, London and the UK has shaped who we are – as individuals, as communities and as nations. 

“Now more than ever, we need an inspiring space for diverse audiences from across London and beyond to come together to explore, discuss and reflect on key questions around migration, identity and belonging. And there is no more fitting location for the Migration Museum than in the heart of the City of London, Britain’s gateway to the world for thousands of years. 

Being based in the City will give us the opportunity to reach and engage audiences from across London, the UK and beyond on a significantly larger scale, while staying true to our ethos and the approaches that are so important to us, with personal storytelling at the core of everything we do.

Ms Henderson said that property developer Dominus was a partner for the Migration Museum sited in a new development.

Dominus’ founder, Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia, arrived in the UK as a refugee fleeing Idi Amin’s Uganda, and he and his family are personally committed to the Migration Museum and the stories it tells.