Arts centre looking for design team to revamp its listed home

Arts and cultural centre Jacksons Lane is looking to appoint a design team to produce designs for the revamp of its home in Highgate, Haringey.

Based in the former gothic Highgate Wesleyan Methodist church since the 1970s, Jacksons Lane has supported the career of Eddie Izzard and was the venue for the first performance by comedy duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

A feasibility study has been carried out by Katy Marks of Citizens Design Bureau and now the organisation is looking for a team to produce designs to RIBA Design Stage D for the grade II-listed building. These will then be submitted to Arts Council England for funding.

Subject to a successful application and securing the rest of the required funding Jacksons Lane said in a document lodged on Ojeu that it planned to start construction of the scheme in early 2020, with the building expected to reopen later that year.

The building currently contains a 160-seat auditorium, a large studio with four additional studio spaces, foyer with separate bar and cafe spaces, a 12-person office, two group dressing rooms, back-of-house stores and tech and ancillary spaces.