Royal College of Art to Open Creative Hub at White City Place
While Oliver Bonas and Nurture open stores and cafe on Wood Lane
The Royal College of Art, or RCA, is opening a new Creative Hub in the Garden House building at White City Place on Wood Lane.
The RCA is aiming to take possession of the whole building in March 2017 and to open its new hub for communication, architecture and humanities and their integrated practices in autumn this year.
The RCA is the latest high profile organisation to move into White City Place, being created on the site of the former BBC BC Media Village.
Developers Stanhope and Mitsui, who bought the building from the BBC last year for £87 million, announced last autumn that YOOX Net-a-Porter, or YNAP, will be occupying office space in the Media Works building as a cutting edge Tech Hub, which will accommodate up to 650 members of the global technology team, bringing all its UK technology teams into one location.
The MediaWorks accommodation will be ready for YNAP's technology team to occupy by March.
Garden House
The RCA's new home, Garden House is a three storey building sharing a semi-private garden with the adjacent MediaWorks building.
Two other new tenants at White City Place are retailers Oliver Bonas and Nurture.
Oliver Bonas, the British-led lifestyle retailer with an eclectic product range from jewellery and women’s fashion through to furniture and homewares is already up and running on the site. Oliver Bonas first shop opened in Fulham in 1993 and they now have 50 stores across the UK.
Nurture is a brand new healthy food concept planning to open in late February, alongside its store already open in Hammersmith. Nurture aims to be the UK’s first and most widely loved 'clean food' laid back café-restaurant concept.
The RCA aims to create an academic community of more than 700 students and staff in what is already becoming a hub for the creative industries, opening up further opportunities for interdisciplinary practice, including local external partners who can offer exhibition space, opportunities for live projects, digital direction partnerships and more.
It is in close proximity to Imperial College London’s new state-of-the-art White City Campus and learning environment.
Professor Neville Brody, Dean of the School of Communication said: " This is an unprecedented opportunity to extend and deepen our subject landscape, allowing a more leading-edge approach grounded in experience and expertise, with new initiatives underpinned by our reputation for innovation and skill."
January 9, 2017
