Work commences on £14m expansion of Leeds College of Art

Building work is now underway at Leeds College of Art’s new £14m expansion, due to be completed by summer 2018.

This new build is the biggest capital investment that the College has ever embarked upon and has been two years in development. The expansion is part of the College’s plans to become the only specialist arts university in the North of England.

The project is being delivered by the construction contractor ISG on the current car park area at Blenheim Walk, creating a five storey building, 6,000 sq ms in size using a bespoke design drawn up with architects DLA Design.

The expansion will accommodate purposebuilt art, design and performance facilities for increased student numbers and new courses.

HSBC have helped with financing the building development. The current Blenheim Walk campus has reached capacity so the new building will ensure the College can grow to meet demand for places.

Some of the College’s higher education and postgraduate courses currently taught at the Blenheim Walk campus will move across to the new facility. In addition, the new building will allow the College to create a more diverse mix of educational courses including the introduction of BA (Hons) Filmmaking and BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance in 2018.

Specialist facilities will include a 230 seat auditorium, music, film and photography studios, and a larger specialist arts library. There will also be an open plan atrium-style entrance with a public exhibition gallery and coffee shop, together with an enterprise centre which will also allow the College to engage more fully with regional businesses, and the local and wider communities of Leedsi.

Professor Simone Wonnacott, Principal, Leeds College of Art said: “This year promises to be just as exciting for the College as our 170th anniversary last year.

“As we move forward with our purpose-built expansion, and add new courses to our portfolio, we will attract more students to the city offering them a greater diverse mix of creative courses.

“Our new build project coincides with our application to become a university, which will see the College becoming the only specialist arts university in the North of England, which we hope to make an announcement about later in the year.”

Andy McLinden, regional managing director for ISG’s UK Construction North & Scotland business, added: “Leeds College of Art has ambitious plans for its future development and these new facilities will provide the infrastructure to support significant expansion at the Blenheim Walk campus, and promote greater engagement with the local community.

“The use of the YORbuild2 framework has proved instrumental in getting this complex project from concept to site quickly to maximise efficiencies and drive innovation in the build process.”

Mike Swift, area director of South and West Yorkshire, HSBC Corporate Banking, commented: “We are pleased to have helped with financing Leeds College of Art, this is a demonstration of us being able to actively support growing organisations and businesses.

“The College is a great educational asset to Leeds, and we look forward to seeing the benefits of their expansion, which will help create jobs within the region and give the North a UK leading cultural institution.”

The building construction company delivering the build is ISG; DLA Design is the architects that have worked with the College to draw up the bespoke design; WYG are the structural engineers; GVA Apleaona is the project management consultant; TB+A Mechanical & Electrical and Rex Procter & Partners are the quantity surveyors.

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