New era for Performance at Falmouth

University College Falmouth's Rector, Alan Livingston CBE and Rob Bradley, Regional Director of Leadbitter, laid a foundation stone of Cornish granite at a ceremony for invited guests.

The new £15 million Performance Centre will open in October 2010 to accommodate an eclectic range of courses - from Creative Music Technology to Dance Performance and Theatre Design & Production - and staff and students from the College's Dartington Campus in Devon.

"The Performance Centre is the tangible manifestation of our merger with Dartington College of Arts, and its construction is an exciting prospect that will make a significant difference to the next generation of Performance students," explained University College Falmouth's Rector, Professor Alan Livingston. "This exceptional new facility and the dynamic range of new courses that will be offered there pave the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012/13 that will be unique in the South West."

Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: "This new building represents an important step in the expansion of University College Falmouth and an equally important step forward for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly - building the excellence of our Higher Education provision to help shape the lives of generations to come and through this excellence helping us build the boldness and confidence to connect with the best around the world."

The Leadbitter Group, named Contractor of the Year in the 2009 Building Awards, is the main contractor for the design and build of the Performance Centre.

Rob Bradley, Regional Director of the Leadbitter Group, said: "We are delighted to have laid the foundation stone for what will be a superb performance facility for University College Falmouth.

"The space has been designed to make the most of the natural environment and will be built over four levels following the contours of the land. The frame will be clad with various natural materials such as slate and timber, under terraces of green roof. We are working to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating on this site, so construction is being carefully restricted to protect the surrounding ecology."

Spaces licensed for public performance within the building will include:

• A large theatre performance studio with variable raked seating options
• A large theatre and dance studio with a fully sprung Harlequin floor
• A performance studio designed for acoustic music
• A performance studio designed for amplified music

Other facilities will include:

• A further two large dance studios with fully sprung Harlequin floors
• Three studio theatres
• Music recording studio
• Music practice rooms for bands and solo occupancy

"The Performance Centre will also generate really exciting opportunities for collaboration with local, national and international businesses and the local community," added University College Falmouth's Director of Art & Performance, Sara Reed. "Continuing the College's great track record of hosting quality events and performances, there will also be a performance programme incorporating theatre, dance and music as well as exhibitions, conferences and opportunities for external users to use the facilities."

The Design team is:

• Grainge Architects - Building Detail Design DDA and Landscaping
• Hoare Lea - Mechanical and Electrical, Acoustics and BREEAM
• Avery and Cole - Structural Engineering
• AECOM (Faber Maunsell) - Ecology
• JHA - Building Control

Ends

For more information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs on 01326 213792 or by emailing jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

For more information regarding Leadbitter, please contact Giulia Draycott on 01483 826554, 07887 951323 or gdraycott@sheremktg.co.uk. Alternatively, please contact Charmaine Kimpton on ckimpton@sheremktg.co.uk or 01483 209305.

Editors' notes:

About University College Falmouth

• University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.
• This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012 that will be unique to the South West.
• The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall Council.
• For further information, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk

About Leadbitter

• The Leadbitter Group was named Contractor of the Year in the 2009 Building Awards. This prestigious award recognises the hard work and dedication of Leadbitter's people and cements the Company's reputation as a major construction player.
• Leadbitter has four operating divisions in the UK. These are the South West and Wales Division, based in Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth; the Central Division, based in Oxford and Coventry; the Southern Division based in Southampton; and Denne Construction based in Sittingbourne, Kent.
• The company turnover is approximately £350 million per annum. Its operations are divided into two businesses, construction and housing.
• For further information, visit www.leadbitter.co.uk

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