School to build new £3 million Music Centre
09 Apr 2008
Solihull School is aiming to create a top-class performing arts quarter within its Warwick Road campus by investing £3 million in a new state-of-the-art music school.
The independent co-educational school is to launch the landmark teaching, recital and recording facility in September 2009 in time for its 450th anniversary in 2010.
The new School of Music will be built on open land between the Junior School and the Bushell Hall, which opened in 2002 as a modern theatre and concert space. Work will begin on site in July 2008.
The stand-alone building, which has been designed as a stunning radiating structure with strong lines and a ‘saw-tooth’ arrangement by Birmingham architects Malcolm Payne Group, will house school music facilities that will be among the best in the UK.
Funded from the school’s Endowment, the two-storey music school will encompass a massive 1,500 sq m of floor space and will replace a smaller facility that has become dated and logistically difficult for teaching.
With level access into a ‘street’ space and a large lift for pupils and their instruments, the new music school will include acoustically and physically separated practice and teaching rooms, academic and recital spaces, and a percussion room and rock room.
The rooms will also have remote audio connections to a built-in recording studio with the latest digital facilities for the recording of performances and examinations pieces.
Phillip Griffiths, Headmaster, said: “This major investment will reinforce our commitment to offering successive generations of pupils the highest quality learning experience and provide a fitting landmark to celebrate our 450th anniversary.”
The investment follows the start of work on the final phase of a £220,000
rebuilding programme for the school’s 40-year-old chapel organ, now being reassembled following a six-month overhaul by organ specialist Nicholson’s of Worcester.
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Issued on behalf of Solihull School by Lois Burley PR Ltd (0121 666 7003). For more details, please contact Phillip Griffiths on 0121 705 0958
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