The Centre, designed by Nicholas Hare Architects, is due to open in September 2015. It will be part of the High House Production Park, a world-class cultural hub for creative industries in the area, providing development and training in backstage roles, technical expertise and community engagement.
Over 20,000 costumes for Royal Ballet and Royal Opera productions will be housed in the building which will be climate controlled for the safe storage of fragile fabrics. The Royal Opera House maintains a unique and impressive collection of costumes, including some productions dating back over 40 years. In addition, there is an historical collection dating back to the 19th century of more than 6,000 items, which need to be kept in carefully controlled conditions to ensure they are properly conserved.
The costumes to be housed in the Costume Centre are for revival productions rather than new ones. The Centre will also include facilities for the making and refurbishing of costumes. The low carbon project is designed to achieve a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) ‘excellent’ rating. BREEAM measures how sustainable buildings are and to be classified as ‘excellent’, a building must score at least 70 per cent in a BREEAM assessment.