SCOTTISH Ballet's new £11million purpose built home beside Glasgow's historic Tramway arts venue is taking shape.
SCOTTISH Ballet's new £11million purpose built home beside Glasgow's historic Tramway arts venue is taking shape.
Dancer Louisa Hassell took the opportunity of using the steel bars to practise her ballet moves.
The steel structure on the derelict site on Glasgow's South Side is the first glimpse of the new facility planned for Scotland's national dance company.
Last year the company launched a public appeal to raise the final £1m needed to complete the project.
The 82 staff and dancers employed by Scottish Ballet are expected to move into the new headquarters early next year.
Scottish Ballet was given permission in 2006 to re-develop the site, a former tram depot at the junction of Albert Drive and Pollokshaws Road, as Glasgow's international arts centre.
Cindy Sughrue, Executive Producer at Scottish Ballet, said: "It's fantastic to see the structure of our new home at Tramway starting to take shape.
"Having recently scooped the Critics Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Repertoire, the top prize in the Dance Oscars' our new home at Tramway is essential if we are to continue with this exceptionally high artistic standard.
"This is a really exciting time for Scottish Ballet - but this is also a remarkable period in the development of Tramway as an international arts centre.
"As part of our project, we are enhancing visitor facilities and will be developing a new visual arts gallery and studio, as well as a centre for independent professional dance companies.
"There will also be a dedicated dance education centre that will allow us to reach a much wider public and give us the ability to nurture emerging talent.
"We are not only creating an inspirational building, we are creating future opportunities for Scotland and laying the foundations for generations of dancers to come.
She said around half of the last £1m had still to be raised.
"To do all this, we need the public's support and would ask that they support us through donations to the Scottish Ballet Tramway Appeal."
Scottish Ballet revealed they had looked at 182 sites throughout Scotland before settling on the Tramway.
Funding for the move came from a £3.75m Lottery grant, £2m from the Scottish Executive and cash from both Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow.
The Tramway, a B-listed building, was built in 1893 and was the city's main tram terminus and depot before it became the Museum of Transport in the 1960s.
In 2000 it was redeveloped - with the assistance of a Lottery grant - to incorporate improved theatres, workshops and exhibition spaces.
Two years ago part of a tram shed collapsed as work began to demolish it and forced the closure of Pollokshaws Road for a fortnight.
No one was injured but drivers faced rush-hour traffic delays.
Donations should be sent to Scottish Ballet, 261 West Princes Street, Glasgow G4 9EEM.
