Art hub’s renovation project moving ahead
SCAFFOLDING has gone up at the art hub in Mansell Street as part of a project to renovate the building.
The hub is the brainchild of the Art for Guernsey group and founder David Ummels said that so far there have been no nasty surprises during the development.
‘We started on the construction phase about a month ago,’ he said of work on the site, which was once home to a Laura Ashley shop.
‘Once it’s all done it will be a completely new space. The building wasn’t really fit for our purpose.’
The work is being carried out by Rihoy & Son and Mr Ummels said several walls inside the building were being changed, along with improvements to accessibility being made following consultation with several local groups such as the Guernsey Disability Alliance, the Ron Short Centre and the Cheshire Home.
Scaffolding will allow for any roof repairs to be carried out: ‘Generally speaking we’ve had no bad surprises and we’re very happy about that,’ said Mr Ummels.
The project is set to cost some £350,000 and will be made available to islanders of all ages, as well as giving visiting artists a place to showcase their work.
Once completed the aim is to have an art library, a workshop environment, an area for children and spaces for exhibitions including an area where temperature and humidity are carefully controlled to enable more valuable pieces of art to be displayed.
The art hub is due to be opened officially in March next year.
