Craven Arts House Building Renovation – Skipton, North Yorkshire

Bowman Riley supported the refurbishment of an existing Victorian school into Craven Arts House, a new centre for contemporary arts in Skipton.

Since 2017, Craven Arts has been an artist-led organisation formed by a group of artists living and working in the Skipton area. To support local creativity, the organisation decided to create a new centre for contemporary arts called the Craven Arts House.

Craven Arts secured significant funding from Craven District Council, English Heritage, Heritage Action Zone from Historic England and Architectural Heritage Fund. The organisation worked closely with Craven District Council who managed the refurbishment on site.

As lead consultants, our team designed a project plan for the centre to be built in phases. We have now completed the refurbishment of the west wing. The central and east wings will be finished once further funding is secured for the project. The conversion accommodates artist studios, a recording studio, a community meeting room, an exhibition hall, kitchens, and toilet facilities.

Our team improved accessibility by providing new stepped access to the front of the building. We also added ramped access to the rear of the building, which is adjacent to the car park. We improved the external appearance of the building by repairing the roof. In addition to that, we repointed the stonework, made good tarmac, and redecorated gutters and rainwater pipes.

We improved the carbon reduction with thermal improvements to the building. This involved replacement windows, and insulating walls and roof. Additionally, we installed a new mechanical and electrical system throughout. This included photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation.

Now open the Craven Arts House is an important community space for local creativity and contemporary arts.

See more of our community projects here.