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New arts building for Canterbury campus

The University of Kent is to hold a special sod turning ceremony on Tuesday 14 October 2008 to celebrate the construction of a new £6.25m building to house its School of Drama, Film and Visual Arts.

This latest addition to the University's Canterbury campus will provide the School with a dedicated facility providing drama, art and film studios, teaching rooms, a postgraduate centre and academic and administrative offices.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Julia Goodfellow said: 'With its first-class teaching and research, the School of Drama, Film and Visual Arts at Kent is among the best in the UK. With its external display and performance space, this purpose-built building is an exciting addition to the Canterbury campus. I would like to thank architects Hawkins/Brown and building contractors Morgan Ashurst for helping us to get this project under way.'

The steel-framed building features a distinctive zinc wall tiled cladding system and glazed curtain walling to the south elevation.

James Roberts, Morgan Ashurst project manager, said: 'We are particularly excited about working on this project as it might help inspire the UK's next Tracey Emin or Guy Ritchie. It's always an exciting time when the ground is broken for the first time because from now on staff and students at the University will be able to watch their fantastic new facility rise out of the ground.'

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 2:26pm 8 October 2008