Dunard Centre

dunard centre

Looking to the Future

A pivotal moment in the evolution of the Dunard Centre

16 July 2024

It was a little over a year ago that the site chosen for the Dunard Centre was entirely hidden from view, inaccessible to the public, as it sat behind the Royal Bank of Scotland’s landmark building on St Andrew Square. A five-storey computer block, built in the 1960s and used as extra office space by the Bank, was the sole occupier on the site for decades until it fell into disuse.

Now this rarely seen, hidden city centre site has been transformed. The area is clear, the computer block has been carefully dismantled and the old stone walls at the back of the Bank are seeing the light of day for the first time in many decades.

Watch our video above as the site is opened up and the Dunard Centre is magically revealed.

It’s a thrilling prospect that this football pitch sized plot will be returned to public use, with welcoming pathways through and around this 21st century concert hall, creating a highly accessible, bustling hub of creativity for everyone to use and enjoy.

Work behind the scenes has been moving on apace: June saw the practical completion of enablement works – that’s all the work that must happen before main construction can begin; and earlier, in March, a pre-construction service agreement (PCSA) got underway with our new main contractor Balfour Beatty.

Balfour Beatty come to us fresh from their major development of Edinburgh’s Old Royal Infirmary building, now transformed into the University’s Edinburgh Futures Institute, and have previously completed major heritage developments in the city such as the Assembly Rooms and National Museums of Scotland.

We also recently completed the first phase of our citizen research, which demonstrates the extent of demand for more live music in Scotland – of all kinds. Our research found that over 50% of people wished they were going to see live music more often, 18% felt sad they had lost the habit and 22% were keen to start. In parallel, consultation with a wide range of music, cultural and community stakeholders is ongoing to lay the foundations for a far-reaching, collaborative framework for engagement and lifelong learning opportunities.

Our ambition is to create year-round performances and experiences designed to foster collaborations and connections between artists, audiences and communities, bringing more music to more people, more often.

With the Dunard Centre’s 1000-seat auditorium, bars, workshop rooms and recording facilities, everyone will be able to get involved with performances of all types: classical music and spoken word, hip-hop, comedy and pop, to folk, jazz and rock.

We are looking to the future: the four-year main construction is expected to begin early next year. As our CEO Jo Buckley says, “We’re now at a pivotal moment where we will go from something that has been talked about for a very long time to something that is actually going to happen.”

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