Bristol Dance Centre
Bristol Community Dance Centre is the thriving and vibrant home for the city’s contemporary dance community and we were honoured to be asked by them to develop proposals for the refurbishment and extension of their existing facilities.
This amazing, grade II listed building was built originally during the Victorian era as one of Bristol’s first municipal swimming baths and then converted to a dance centre in the early 1980’s.
Whilst in many ways perfectly suited to the art of contemporary dance, the original layout of this wonderful and enticing building has also created a number of challenges for its users, not least in terms of access across its ever changing floor heights.
Phase one of the proposed scheme will see the creation of a new, light filled circulation core in the south wing to allow all users access to all spaces in the building, whilst the opening up of the incredible former pump room at the rear and the creation of a new rehearsal studio within the original rooftop reservoir tanks, will ensure that the centre has sufficient space to support a busy and wide ranging programme of dance classes and performances. In addition, the opening up of sections of the front elevation will allow the creation of a bright, new, welcoming reception area & box office that will also act as a ‘shop window’ into the workings of this delightful and inspiring project.
With planning and listed building consent now secured, work is now underway on moving the project forward to the construction phase.