Kings Place London : Development

Completion photos : Richard Bryant/ARCAID, 2008: MAJOR NEW CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OFFICIALLY HANDED OVER TODAY 28 Apr 2008 Kings Place Computer Generated Images © Miller Hare, 2008 Kings Place, designed by leading architects Dixon Jones, a major new development which brings together world-class arts facilities, outstanding office accommodation and waterside bars, restaurants and event spaces, was officially handed over today. The innovative waterside building is only 150m from King’s Cross and the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link and is part of one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe. It will open on 1 October 2008 with a special five-day festival of concerts and exhibitions to celebrate a new cultural space for London. To mark the handover, a Steinway Concert Grand piano will be delivered to the building today. Kings Place will provide new offices for Guardian Newspapers Ltd as well as headquarters for two orchestras, the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The development includes London’s first concert hall to be built since the Barbican Concert Hall over 25 years ago in 1982, a 420-seat auditorium. Kings Place also offers a 200-seat flexible space for concerts and conferences, practice rooms, teaching rooms, rehearsal rooms and a green room. Spaces for the visual arts include an art gallery, one of the UK’s largest sculpture spaces and a working sculpture studio. Arup Acoustics have worked with architects Dixon Jones, providing specialist consultancy. Public facilities will include restaurants and bars by Green & Fortune as well as outstanding waterside spaces for conferences and private events. The developers, Parabola Land, have established the Kings Place Music Foundation (KPMF) to manage and operate the music space and to carry out an ambitious outreach programme. KPMF – in association with the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Royal Academy of Music, the King’s Place Sculpture Residency and Pangolin London - will provide accessible music and arts to the local community, developing close relationships with local residents, schools and organisations. Kings Place London - images / information from Dixon Jones Architects 280408