During 2003 the possibility of locating the long established Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa at SAMS was explored. This led to the initiation of the build process of the new CCAP facility in the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology. The move was successfully completed at the beginning of March 2004, just before the official opening of the new SAMS laboratory by HRH Princess Anne. During the opening ceremony the CCAP and other sections of the laboratory were visited by Princes Anne and other dignitaries.

The Collection functions as the national service collection of algae and protozoa in the UK and is linked with other service collections worldwide via the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC). There is liaison between collections within Europe via the European Culture Collections' Organization (ECCO) and nationally via the United Kingdom Federation for Culture Collections (UKFCC). In 1997 the United Kingdom National Culture Collection (UKNCC) was established to co-ordinate some of the marketing and research activities of the UK's nine major public domain culture collections, including CCAP.  In 2001 the UKNCC published the CCAP catalogue.