£1.9million arts centre opens in new year
A £1.9 MILLION performing arts centre at Soham Village College could be completed by January next year, the school has confirmed.
A 1.9 MILLION performing arts centre at Soham Village College could be completed by January next year, the school has confirmed.
The purpose-built building, in the grounds of the Sand Street college, will be a centre for drama, music and dance and will cater for youngsters' arts lessons at the college, as well as the wider community.
The centrepiece will be a performing arts theatre to allow performances to be held to members of the public by the school.
The facility, which was funded from the school's capital budget and Cambridgeshire County Council, was designed in conjunction with Dan Schumann from Soham's Viva Arts Theatre Group, which is based in Churchgate Street, Soham.
Mr Schumann helped to customise the central theatre space, which will allow scenery to be moved easily in and out of the building during productions.
The theatre features an environmentally-friendly timber frame which retains heat and was designed by Cambridge architects LGH and is being constructed by Chatteris contractors Mars.
The new building will also feature an outdoor amphitheatre.
"As far as we are aware, we should be able to move into the new building by January," said Soham Village College's business manager Jonathan Peryer, who has been overseeing the building's funding.
"The project has been in the pipeline for quite a while. Building work started here at Easter but the actual contruction time should be quite quick.
Now that the main structure is up, there is a lot of work continuing inside."
He added: "This is a fantastic facility for the school but it will also be for the local primary schools, which we work in partnership with, as well. We very much hope that they will be able to use this new facility.
"Soham Vllage College is actually very strong in the arts, music and drama and the theatre will enhance the experience."
The college's provision of arts was highlighted as positive factor in its November Ofsted report when inspectors found that the college provided a broad range of arts opportunities.
Got a Soham story? Contact reporter Robert Andrews on 01638 564105.
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