Planning permission granted for Coventry’s City Centre Cultural Gateway

By Peter Davison

1 June 2023

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Planning permission has been granted to undergo a remarkable transformation of Coventry’s former IKEA building into a vibrant cultural hub.

Now known as the City Centre Cultural Gateway (CCCG), the building will be repurposed to
provide a new home for nationally recognised collections and include a space for new research facilities.

Public consultations took place prior to the planning application being submitted by Buttress on behalf of Coventry City Council. Residents of the city were able to attend the consultations to find out about the plans and provide feedback.

The Coventry City Council-led project will be delivered in three phases, and existing partners include CVLife, Arts Council England, British Council, Arts Council Collection and Coventry University.

Phase One will see part of the building being repurposed to become a Collections Centre of national significance where CV Life, Arts Council England, Arts Council Collection and the British Council will house their collections.

Phase Two will see Coventry University transform floors five and six into a cultural hub, with a range of facilities on offer, including teaching areas, research space and attractions.

Phase Three will allow the Council to enclose and future-proof the internal car park floors. This will allow feasibility work to be undertaken to explore alternative uses for the new internal space created.

Councillor David Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities at Coventry City Council, said: “We are delighted that planning permission has been granted for the City Centre Cultural Gateway. It is a significant milestone.

“This visionary project will provide a dynamic and inclusive cultural hub for our city, and we are fortunate to be working with fantastic partners to make this happen.

“Not only will it elevate Coventry's cultural landscape, but it will also reinforce our city's position as a vibrant cultural destination.”

Matthew Burl, Director at Buttress, added: “This is such good news - a landmark project creating a new cultural focus in Coventry.
“We have worked extensively with all stakeholders to re-design the building to be more inviting and accessible, creating a new identity, easily recognisable as a cultural asset, whilst enhancing its walk-up appeal with active features and frontages.

“We had an excellent public consultation in February, and it was great to hear people’s views on the project, we’re now looking forward to delivering the scheme with work getting underway later this year.”

The works will start at the end of 2023 with the outlook to open in 2025.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.