Thurrock - Royal Opera House Production Park

Acme Studios was recently commissioned to undertake a study to look at the demand for and feasibility of creating affordable, purpose-built artists’ studios as part of the Royal Opera House Production Park in Thurrock, Essex. The commission was on behalf of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation, in partnership with Arts Council England, East, two of the lead partners in the Royal Opera House Production Park project.

Background

A ground-breaking scheme for artists’ studios is planned as part of a major new production park for the arts in the Thames Gateway. High-quality studios will stand alongside the Royal Opera House’s new set and scenery workshops, the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural Skills and the restored Grade II listed farm buildings.

Artists’ studios have from the outset been central to the vision for the development of the 14-acre site, which is underpinned by a commitment to high quality design and excellence.

The Park

The Royal Opera House Production Park in Purfleet is the UK’s first-ever national centre of excellence for technical skills, crafts and artistic production. Uniquely, the focus of the park will be on cultural production; the project partners understand the importance of the ‘behind the scenes’ work necessary to create music, craft and art.

The centrepiece of the Park is the Royal Opera House Production Facility; an eco-friendly, grass-roofed hangar which will house Covent Garden’s internationally acclaimed set building and scenic artists’ teams. The large new space will mimic the main London stage, allowing sets and materials to be built and trialled on site.

The National Skills Academy is developing a Centre of Excellence at the Park which is due to open in early 2012. The bespoke building will offer training in backstage theatre and live music aimed at top level practitioners together with entry and mid-career level learners.

Existing Grade II listed farm buildings at High House have been restored to provide a café, meeting and exhibition spaces. The Park will be extensively landscaped with a new play park, mature trees and a wild-flower meadow. An historic walled garden will be restored to include an outside performance space and seating area.

The Park is close to the estuary and from its elevated position there are extraordinary views of the Dartford Bridge and, up river, of Canary Wharf in the distance.

Studios

The Park’s emphasis on arts production will create a unique cultural environment for artists’ studios. Outline planning permission has been granted for a three-storey building with a 750 m2 footprint. Acme is working with architects Stock Woolstencroft to develop outline designs which will generate a total of 17,500 square feet of studio space within the permitted development. The ground floor will contain up to seven large spaces with individual entrances, WCs and wash up areas, four-metre high ceilings and extra-wide doors. The largest of these units will be 123 m2 (1,324 f2) and all will have the flexibility to function either as private studios, short-term commissioning/project spaces or as public spaces for exhibitions or events. There will be an oversized lift serving the upper floors and the ground floor will contain bin and bike stores.

There will be 36 units on the two upper floors which will include a range of sizes from 12 m2 (129 f2) to 51 m2 (549 f2). The first floor will have three-metre high ceilings and the top floor units will be over four metres in height with skylights. Each floor will be served by a communal WC/washroom.

All studios will have sub-metered lighting, power and heating and be Wi-Fi enabled.

Location

The Park is located in the village of Purfleet, near to the M25 Dartford Crossing and A13 to London. The studios will have a dedicated loading and drop-off point and disabled parking spaces. Free parking will be available elsewhere on the site.

Purfleet railway station is just under a mile from the Park and a free shuttle bus will be provided for people working there. C2C trains run directly to London Fenchurch Street and to Southend-on-Sea via Grays.

Renting a studio

If the project goes ahead it is proposed that the studios would be made available to artists to rent for an initial maximum period of seven years. Tenants would be able to give two months’ notice at any time after the first six months. Short-term rentals (six months to a year) would also be considered. The rent would be inclusive of all charges with the exception of electricity which would be sub-metered and charged quarterly in arrears.

The target rent at this stage is £7.50 per square foot per annum (£80.73 m2 per annum). Based on this figure, the monthly rent would range from £81 for a 129 f2 studio (12 m2) to £756 for a 1,210 f2 studio (112.5 m2). This rent is considerably lower than the current average for artists’ studios in East London.

Allocation

Artists will be eligible if they work in fine art practice (e.g. painting, sculpture, print-making, fine art photography, installation, performance, multi-media, video and time-based work). Artists applying would need to provide a curriculum vitae and description of their work, together with a statement as to how they would intend to use their studio and how it would benefit their practice.

Timetable

Work on the project is planned to commence in 2011/12 and a specialist partner will be appointed to manage the studios.