Hawkins Brown - Wrecking Crew Demonstrates The Art of Destruction

Demolition experts began work on 30 January 2007 clearing space for a major new contemporary multicultural visual and participatory arts centre, the £6m development of the New Art Exchange in Nottingham’s Hyson Green.
An existing, derelict, 3-storey Dispensary and the adjacent property at 41 Gregory Boulevard are being demolished to make way for the new building which has been designed in a contemporary, innovative style by architects Hawkins Brown. There will be more than 1350m2 of public galleries, workshop space, rehearsal rooms and offices as well as a public café and a shop.
Opening in spring 2008 the New Art Exchange will house the very best of multicultural arts in the UK, with a particular focus on African Caribbean and South Asian Arts. Its aim is to establish the New Art Exchange as a national centre of excellence promoting contemporary and traditional black arts development within the cultural and creative industries.
“The concept for the New Art Exchange is to ensure that the building, externally and internally, becomes a very visible and fully accessible piece of Art. It has to engage, invite and encourage the public to come in. On entering the building it is important that spaces are warm and bright in character and create an ambience of surprise and delight,” says Chief Executive Ekua Bayunu.
The New Art Exchange will act as a centre for the development and origination of Arts-based community programmes across the country. With more than 15000 visitors expected in the first year, it will host two major artist residencies at any one time and hold 126 new cultural events. Plans include 15 major exhibitions, 150 performance workshops and associated events at the Lace Market Gallery in Nottingham and at other venues throughout the East Midlands.
Conceived as a central part of a massive regeneration of Hyson Green, one of the City’s most deprived wards, the New Art Exchange will have a particular emphasis on involving the communities of Hyson Green and Radford as visitors, and contributors to its workshops, performances and galleries.
Funding and support for the development has come from Arts Council England, Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC - formerly New Deal for Communities Radford and Hyson Green), East Midlands Development Agency (emda), Nottingham City Council, Greater Nottinghamshire Partnership and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Jeff Buck, Programme Support Manager for Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC), said: “NDC is very proud to be supporting such an innovative and exciting project. The New Art Exchange will be yet another very visible demonstration of the ongoing regeneration of Hyson Green. It will also provide an opportunity to support and develop the vast array of creative talent based in this area of the city.”
Laura Dyer, Executive Director of Arts Council England, East Midlands, said: “We see this as a major new facility for the development of African, African Caribbean and South Asian arts. Not only will it be a landmark arts building in the city, but will also play an important part in a wider regional and national network to develop contemporary black art which will link to similar facilities in Europe.
“Nottingham already boasts some fine public galleries, but with the Broadway Media Centre having been redeveloped and the Centre for Contemporary Arts Nottingham (CCAN) being built, it will make Nottingham a major centre for contemporary arts.”

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