Construction consultants Turner & Townsend has been providing project management services on The Art House, a £3m building in the city centre of Wakefield created to provide inclusive, flexible and innovative workspace facilities for the visual arts community.

The Art House is a national charitable membership organisation established to create equality of opportunity for disabled and non-disabled artists and craftspeople. It was founded in 1994 in response to a profound lack of physically accessible studio space.

Appointed under the OGC Framework, Turner & Townsend lead the professional project team to deliver the commission on behalf of The Art House and the result is an exemplary building in its access and design.

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The Art House features artists' studios and a small gallery, technicians to support disabled artists, an equipped workshop for use by the local community, meeting rooms to let, a quiet room for people who need to rest and short-stay residential facilities enabling people to come from all over the UK to use the facilities.

The building on Drury Lane was provided by Wakefield Council – offering excellent access to the city centre - Westgate train station and other cultural organisations.

Liz Whitehouse, Director of The Art House, commented: "We needed a supportive and experienced project manager to help and guide us through our project. I was slightly concerned that as a relatively small project we would not be regarded as important by such a large organisation as Turner & Townsend, but nothing could be further from the truth.

"I would certainly work with Turner & Townsend on future developments."

This development is being undertaken in a two-phased approach. The first phase is a new three-storey building and The Art House is now working towards their second phase.

(JM)