Band on the Wall nears fundraising total for £3.5m project
Manchester music venue Band on the Wall has secured £1.4m from the National Lottery to go towards its expansion and work on heritage projects.
The National Lottery funding is in addition to £1.7m received from the Arts Council last year, and means that the venue has raised the bulk of the funding needed for the £3.5m project and will soon be going out to tender for contractors.
Led by owner Inner City Music, the scheme will see capacity increase from 340 to 520, and the derelict Cocozza building to the rear of the property brought back into use. Its façade will be retained as part of the development.
The existing Picturehouse Bar will be remodelled with an external terrace space and will include an 80-capacity second venue designed to host smaller concerts and emerging artists. The funding will also be used to add additional education facilities including a rooftop AV suite and learning spaces to house the venue’s archive.
Plans for the expansion received consent in October 2017. Designed by OMI Architects and managed by Buro Four, the project team also includes cost consultant Simon Fenton Partnership, structural engineer DP2 and building services engineer Progressive Services Design.
Gavin Sharp, chief executive, Inner City Music said: “We are incredibly excited to be starting this new project and taking the Band on the Wall venue into its next phase of what is already a 200 year history. As custodians of this piece of Manchester’s heritage we continue to look forward to celebrating not only the history of our home venue, but also the strong and vibrant musical heritage of all of Manchester’s communities.
“Manchester is a city of migrants, whether from rural England, Ireland or across the world and as people have travelled here to work they have brought amazing culture which Mancunians have embraced. Band on the Wall represents an important part of Manchester’s aspiration to become a truly global, outward-looking city and we are incredibly pleased that this has been recognised by all the supporters and funders of the project.”
