After a three-year delay, plans for a new arts facility in Southampton have taken a step forward with the confirmation by Arts Council England that it will meet its original commitment to a £5.75m cash injection towards a £14m arts complex in the heart of the city.
First announced in 2005, and originally due for completion in 2008, the project has been beset by delays while funders have attempted to meet the costs of the development, which is now scheduled to open in 2011. The complex will include commercial units and residential accommodation, with arts facilities on the ground and first floors. These will include a 370-seat performance space, a 130-seat production facility black-box studio, a 100 seat multi-purpose hall, one of the largest gallery spaces in the country (600m2), a dance studio, workshop spaces and a café bar. Four arts organisations will be housed there: City Eye, a community film making resource, Art Asia, the John Hansard Gallery and the Nuffield Theatre, which will run the two new auditoriums in addition to its theatre at the University of Southampton. Revenue funding that had initially been earmarked by ACE for a new performing arts organisation to run the theatre spaces was withdrawn in the wake of ACE’s recent funding review.