Historic Buildings

Kingston 2025: Celebrating our past, present and future

The 1100th anniversary of the crowning of King Athelstan in Kingston-upon-Thames in 2025 provides a strategic and time-bound opportunity to reposition the role of heritage and culture in the life of the borough. We wish to use the Athelstan moment as a springboard to bring people and organisations together to explore the borough’s diverse and contemporary identity, through core themes developed through extensive community engagement. Through this shared vision an ambitious six-month borough-wide programme will be used as a catalyst to raise collective ambitions, driving up excellence through knowledge sharing, skills development and improving access to and understanding of Kingston’s heritage, identity and sense of place. Kingston 2025 will enable us to engage more deeply with Kingston’s communities uncovering and sharing more diverse and inclusive stories. The project will build a legacy for new ways of working, strengthening relationships and advocating for future investment while increasing engagement, impact and relevance.