For over two years we have been giving careful consideration to the School’s future, exploring how we enhance and improve the education and training experience for our students. This has culminated in the development of an exciting Development Plan, which is made up of a 3 Phase Building Programme. These improvements and expansion of facilities are vital both for current students and also for the future development of the School. Our architects, Burrell Foley Fischer, have worked closely with English Heritage and Dacorum Council to design buildings that complement and enhance the School’s surroundings whilst taking full account of the needs of our School and the young performers in it.
The three phase building plan comprises:
Our Plan for Development gained planning consent in August 2009, however the proposed scheme requires significant investment in building, infrastructure and equipment with the total cost currently forecast to be in the region of £13 million. This will be part financed from the School’s own resources supplemented by a government grant but predominantly funded through an extensive fundraising campaign. Each phase of the master plan will not be embarked upon until funds have been pledged to complete each stage.
At the current time we have over 80% of the funds in hand for Phase I but still have a shortfall of £500,000 to raise. Due to the acute need for additional teaching space that is fit for purpose for performing arts training, it is imperative that the School embarks upon the first phase of the project during the 2009/10 academic year. This means we must urgently focus fundraising efforts and call on the support of our entire school community to successfully achieve our bold vision for the future of our School.
Each and every gift or series of regular donations pledged this year will help us to reach our first target and enable work to start on our proposed five new performance studios.
To find out how you can support us please
click here.
To see designs of the proposed building project please
click here.