School of Art gets a new home

Work on the new School of Art building in central Whiteknights campus is nearing completion to allow the School to relocate there in time for Welcome Week.

A full refurbishment of the former Central Kitchen building, near the Pepper Lane entrance, has been taking place all year to provide the Reading School of Art (RSA) with a new home to replace its current TOB1 building on the Earley Gate side of campus.

The Estates Campus Development Department has led the planning, design, and construction of the refurbished building. It is due to be handed over to Art by building contractor Beard on 15 September, with students arriving for Welcome Week (17-21 September).

The School will continue to be supported by the Estates team as it moves furniture and equipment into the new space ready for a new cohort of students in late September.

About the new building

The refurbishment has breathed new life into the redundant Central Kitchen building, with an extension being added.

It will provide Art with a new building featuring large new studios, workshops and galleries that far better meet the needs of its staff and students.

The workshops will be suitable for activities such as ceramics, screen printing, and wood and metal work. The gallery space will allow artwork to be exhibited all year round, and there will also be new visitor areas.

The new building has solar panels and has been connected to the University’s district heating system so renewable power can be supplied by the nearby Energy Centre.

Additional office space for Art colleagues has been created within the neighbouring Polly Vacher building.

Purpose-built

Andrew Casselden, Director of Estates, said: “This has been a complex campus development project, and the manner in which colleagues from across the University have worked together to overcome challenges during the work has been fantastic.

“To be able to relocate the School of Arts & Communication Design from temporary office buildings, built during World War II, to a new purpose-built home is something that we’re very proud of. This marks a step forward in the delivery of our new Estates Strategy and provides an excellent new home for our highly respected School of Art.”

Professor John Russell, Head of Reading School of Art, said: “We are all very excited to be moving into the new building, which will provide us with more space and vastly improved facilities to teach and carry out research.

“We look forward to welcoming new and existing students into our new home. The new spaces will allow them to exercise their talents to produce exciting new artwork, and us to invite the public in to witness it.”

Reading School of Art was ranked 6th in the UK for Art and Design in the Complete University Guide 2022. It offers undergraduate, PhD and Master’s programmes and is home to major research projects bringing art and culture to the Reading area.

The former Art building, TOB1, will eventually be demolished to make way for the new European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) headquarters planned for Earley Gate. Full planning permission is due to be submitted for this in September.