Camden Roundhouse Monday, 16th August 2021

Camden Roundhouse has appointed Ingleton Wood to provide building services design and BREEAM sustainability services to help build a new state-of-the-art creative centre for young people that will expand the Roundhouse site.

Work has started on the multi-million-pound project that will allow the Roundhouse to work with double the number of young people – who have been hit hard by the Pandemic – up to 15,000 each year.

The Roundhouse Studios currently works with those aged 11-25 and the new creative space will give 18-30 year olds the opportunity to develop their skills, create networks and increase their employment opportunities at a difficult time.

The new three-storey building is set to open in autumn 2022 and will boast large creative spaces that can be used for a range of activities, from rehearsal for theatre makers, circus performers and choirs, to local youth community groups, poetry classes and the podcast studio led by the award-winning Transmission Roundhouse.

It will also include an affordable and flexible co-working area for young entrepreneurs, including meeting spaces and equipment, a triple-height studio for large scale performing, two multi-use studios and an enhanced employability and financial literacy programme.

The Roundhouse aims to open up opportunities in the creative industries to ethnically diverse young people and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Wes Henderson, a Director and Building Services Engineer at Ingleton Wood’s Colchester office, said: “We are thrilled to be supporting Camden Roundhouse’s fantastic project to help thousands of local young people, who are facing exceptionally difficult challenges, to learn employability skills, express themselves, develop confidence, and grow for the future.

“We have a proven track record of helping to deliver large-scale projects that create long-lasting positive change in communities. We look forward to continuing playing our role in inspiring the next generation of musicians and entrepreneurs at such a renowned venue.”

Groundwork started this summer to clear the site ahead of laying the foundations for the new creative centre at the Roundhouse, which dates to the Victorian ‘Railway Mania’ of the 1840s when it originally housed a locomotive turntable – inspiring its name.

Wes added: “We are using CLT (cross-laminated timber) construction to help provide an environmentally sustainable building that is in keeping with the rich history and unique landscape of the adjacent Roundhouse. We have had to carefully plan a lot of elements up front, such as structural considerations and off-site CLT, to aid the modern design.”

Planning permission for the new extension was granted in 2017. The Roundhouse has recently received a £1.5 million donation from the Inflexion Foundation which, in addition to its own fundraising efforts and other steps taken, has given the green light to start on site.

Sam Oldham, Venue Director at the Roundhouse, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Ingleton Wood on our new creative centre. It’s an incredibly exciting part of not only our future but the future of young people in London.

“That’s why we’re especially looking forward to working with Ingleton Wood to achieve a BREEAM accreditation rating of ‘Excellent’, something that will put its environmental performance in the top 10% of all new non domestic buildings in the UK.

“We want to make a difference for future generations by creating a greener and more sustainable sector, which includes this new creative centre at the Roundhouse.” 

Learn more about our sustainability services here.