Plans unveiled for a £13m relations centre

Historians and tourism professionals gathered at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, as plans for a centre in Normandy were unveiled by the Mayor of Ouistreham Riva-Bella, Monsieur Romain Bail.

Award-winning architects Atelier Phileas and London design company Casson Mann are behind the project, having previously worked on the Imperial War Museum.

The centre will be based at Sword Beach, which was liberated by the allied forces on D-Day.

The port, in Caen, is visited by more than one million people travelling from Portsmouth every year.

Mayor Bail said: ‘From William the Conqueror to the Brexit vote, our thousand-year relationship has always been eventful.

‘We are already working with our partners at the University of Portsmouth and elsewhere to tell the stories of our two countries.

‘Our exciting Centre for Franco-British Relations will tell the dramatic story of Sword Beach and much more about our shared history.

‘It will be a must-see for anyone visiting Normandy.

‘We are already reaching out to people in Portsmouth and the rest of the UK to tell them about our plans and look forward to sharing more about it as the project develops.’

The centre is set to open in 2019.