Musicians across Fife will soon have a new home in St Andrews.
The official ground-breaking ceremony for St Andrews University’s new Laidlaw Music Centre took place on Tuesday, heralding the start of construction of the state-of-the-art facility.
The centre will serve as an intimate performance venue, high-tech recording studio, and flexible rehearsal space.
St Andrews and Fife Community Orchestra is among the varied groups and societies that will benefit from the new building.
Orchestra conductor Jill Craig said: “Music is one area that can really bring together university and community. Members of the community coming into the new music centre will find that this is a building for them.”
It is hoped the centre will form strong links with surrounding cultural hubs including the Byre Theatre and arts faculties, bringing local arts infrastructure together to form a new St Andrews ‘cultural quarter’ where creativity and diversity can thrive.
The university has funded the project with philanthropic support from donors including the McPherson Trust, Sir Ewan and Lady Brown, and Lord Laidlaw.
At the ground-breaking ceremony it was announced the new building will be named the Laidlaw Music Centre in recognition of Lord Laidlaw’s £4 million donation which turned vision into development.
Master of the United College at St Andrews, Professor Garry Taylor, said: “Music has the power to inspire, brighten and strengthen communities.
“The Laidlaw Music Centre will be a bold statement of confidence in the creative life of Fife.
“Students and community musicians, choristers and music-lovers alike will benefit from one of the finest chamber recital rooms in the country, attracting professional performances, promoting access to tuition, and encouraging the study of music as part of the undergraduate degree programme.”
The development is a legacy of the university’s 600th anniversary fundraising campaign, which reached its £100 million total last month.
The university’s Director of Music, Michael Downes, said: “The Laidlaw Music Centre will allow us to share our music facilities and expertise with our local, community as well as providing a much better place for our talented students to learn and develop. It will also complement the town’s arts facilities, including the Byre Theatre.”
The centre, designed by architects Flanagan Lawrence, is being built in central St Andrews on a site on Queens Terrace.
It has been designed to complement the neighbouring St Regulus Hall student residence and the Bute Building.
