Haringey will bury a time capsule at the restored Civic Centre before it reopens in 2027. Anyone with a link to the borough can send a photo until 16 October.

Haringey Council is burying a time capsule in the grounds of the Civic Centre before the restored building reopens, and it is asking anyone with a connection to the borough to help fill it. The deadline for submissions is Friday 16 October 2026, and the capsule will not be opened again until 2076.

The council announced the project on 30 July. The ask is simple: submit a photograph of a place, person, event, object or moment that represents what you love about Haringey. The project page suggests a favourite place, a local business, a community tradition or an everyday moment, and also invites drawings and artwork, written stories, poems, messages and video.

The project says it is open to “absolutely anyone living, working, studying or has a connection to Haringey”, so Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Highgate residents count even though the building itself is in Wood Green.

One caveat the council states plainly: not every item will become a physical object inside the capsule. Contributions that do not go in will be kept in a digital archive intended to record the borough’s “creativity, diversity and identity in 2026”.

Council leader Cllr Mark Blake said: “The Civic Centre has been at the heart of Haringey’s story for decades, and this project is an opportunity for local people to write the next chapter.”

Why now

The capsule is timed to the end of the Civic Centre’s rebuild. Haringey’s Cabinet backed the award of the main build contract on 12 November 2024, and construction started on site on 8 April 2025 with contractor Sisk, according to the council’s own construction updates.

The new annexe reached its highest point at a topping out ceremony in February 2026, attended by the then leader Cllr Peray Ahmet, the Mayor of Haringey Cllr Ahmed Mahbub and Sisk’s chief operating officer Steven McGee. The council expects the work to finish in late 2026, shortly before Haringey takes on the title of London Borough of Culture 2027.

The Grade II listed building will hold high quality offices for up to 900 staff plus restored civic spaces shared with the community. The council has also confirmed that full council, cabinet and committee meetings will return there once it reopens.

Timeline of the Haringey Civic Centre restoration: Cabinet backs the main build contract 12 November 2024; construction starts 8 April 2025 with contractor Sisk; annexe topping out February 2026; time capsule submissions close 16 October 2026; construction completes and the capsule is sealed and buried late 2026; the building reopens in 2027, the year Haringey is London Borough of Culture; the capsule is opened in 2076
Graphic by Crouch End News

Local schools have already left a mark on the site. In October 2025 the council and Sisk invited two schools, Lift Trinity and St Michael’s CofE Primary, to cover the construction hoardings with pupils’ artwork, working with local producer Damali Ibreck. The panels are on Bounds Green Road and Trinity Road in N22 and include self portraits, a Wood Green map and a piece written by St Michael’s junior leaders with the artist Zethu Maseko.

What it means for you

  • The deadline is Friday 16 October 2026. Submissions are made through the council’s project site at haringeyciviccentre.commonplace.is, where the time capsule is one of the listed proposals.
  • A photograph is the default submission, but the brief is broader than that: a drawing of a park, route or landmark, a written memory, a poem, a message or a video are all listed as options.
  • There is a separate memories thread on the same site for people who attended the Civic Centre’s opening, held an event there or sat through a memorable meeting.
  • Questions about the redevelopment go to civic.centre@haringey.gov.uk, and the council publishes its answers on the project site.

If you are thinking about what to send, the borough’s Culture year in 2027 makes a decent prompt: what would you want someone opening a box in 2076 to know about this corner of north London? Our things to do in Crouch End page is one place to start.