Inside the University of Salford’s new £55m arts building

The University of Salford’s brand new £55m New Adelphi Arts Centre is the new home for many of the University’s School of Arts and Media courses – Art, Design, Fashion, Photography, Music, Performance and Dance – as well as the School of the Built Environment’s new Architecture programme.

Built by BAM Construction, the building was made using 1,000 tonnes of structural steel and 5,500 square metres of reinforced concrete. It houses a café, a bar, a rooftop terrace and wildlife attracting green roof. Its distinctive large walkway, cutting through the centre of the building, will lead visitors into the heart of the University’s Peel Park campus.

With its 15,000 square metres of floor space over eight storeys, the building will provide a purpose built facility for students to work to professional standards, enabling them to collaborate with top industry professionals in a state of the art environment.

The large theatre, equipped with the latest lighting, PA equipment and high-powered projector, seats 350 and can be adapted to the different configurations required by a broad range of shows.

This inspirational space will open its doors to the community both as a cultural resource for local people and as an exciting new venue where members of the public can enjoy an exciting and eclectic programme of performances.

A smaller studio theatre also contains flexible seating and stage layouts, while an amphitheatre can host outdoor events.

The New Adelphi Arts Centre will enable students to work with community groups in areas including dance, drama, television performance, music and art/design. The Salford Television Workshop will be the first of many community organisations to get involved with the new centre.

A series of professional quality screen acting studios will give students valuable experience in front of high definition cameras, while a voice acting studio will make sure students have the chance to master the kind of vocal performance used in radio or video game production, and all Acting students will also have the opportunity to learn technical production skills.

Music students will have access to five professional recording studios, built using specialist room-within-room construction methods and housing recording booths, pianos and the latest equipment provided by Ampeg, Fender and Vox. The adjoining control rooms come equipped with top of the range speakers, bespoke furniture the latest Audient mixing desks – the first to be installed in the UK.

Digital connectivity means each control room can be connected with any of New Adelphi’s other performance spaces, which will allow any performance taking place within the building to be recorded at professional quality.

A 100 square metre band room, taking up two floors, can accommodate a big band or orchestra and is overlooked by its own control room.

Artists and designers will benefit from the 600 square metres dedicated to specialist workshops ranging from traditional model making tools to 3D printers and laser cutters. A printing lab within this area includes specialist equipment from screen printers and lithotables to etching presses and felt looms.

Students will be able to use seven fully equipped professional photography studios featuring lighting equipment, a dark room and the latest cameras and accessories. Work created here can be exhibited in the 100 square metre gallery dedicated to formal exhibitions and other exhibition spaces in the building’s foyer.

The New Adelphi also contains high specification performance and dance rehearsal studios, open plan studio spaces for art and design projects and many instrumental tuition rooms.

Professor Allan Walker, Dean of the School of Arts and Media, said: “We expect New Adelphi will soon be recognised as one of the UK’s most advanced creative production and training facilities for all forms of performance, plastic arts and for design combined with media and digital technologies.

“The building will not only provide an artistic hub for our students, but a programme of events will make it a mainstay of Greater Manchester’s cultural landscape.”