Morgan Sindall has started work on a £6 million project to construct a new state-of-the-art creative arts centre for Sherborne Girls School, in Dorset.
The school has an exceptional tradition and focus on music, and the new arts centre will create an outstanding facility for the school and draw in musicians and audiences from beyond the immediate school community which will allow for the staging of professional productions.
Designed by architects Burrell Foley Fischer, the multi-million-pound building will transform both practice and performance; providing flexible, high-quality recital space, sound proofed practice rooms and fully equipped recording studios. The centre will ‘sit low’ on the campus, as the site slopes southwards, ensuring that glorious views to the hills from the existing buildings will not be lost.
The arts centre will be housed in a striking timber framed building which will provide new facilities for music, and a new home for drama in the converted existing music school. It will also create a physical link to the school’s Art Department. Joining all three departments will be a generous foyer, providing prominent display space for art and a central meeting place for the whole school community.
Andy Duff, Managing Director at Morgan Sindall in the south, said: “Our team is very excited to begin work on this prestigious and intricate project, which has been awarded thanks to Morgan Sindall’s outstanding reputation in the education sector. We look forward to working with the school and providing them with a world-class facility which will give the pupils the facilities they need to thrive creatively. The building itself will create an attractive, inspiring central landmark on the school’s estate and we look forward to working closely with the school community and the wider project team as we deliver this stunning, multi-faceted development which will play an important role in supporting the school’s creative offering.”
Headmistress Jenny Dwyer, added: “We are delighted to be working with Morgan Sindall on this very exciting project. This new building brings the key creative areas of school life together, to provide an inspirational hub at the heart of the school.”
The project team will also replace the tennis courts on a site immediately south of the Stuart Centre, updating these to deliver an improved, modern surface and ensuring adequate wind protection.
The build programme is expected to complete in spring 2019.
