Moving day finally came!

On the 13th July 2016 we moved in to our beautiful new Artists Centre, funded in large part by Creative Scotland, now aptly named the Jacobs Building after Cove Park’s founders Eileen and Peter Jacobs. We’ve spent the last couple of weeks unpacking, settling in and getting to know the place; there are a lot more rooms and doors than we’re used to!

At the heart of the new building is a welcoming communal space - the Snug and adjoining kitchen - for the resident artists and visitors to meet, relax in, read, cook or simply enjoy the stunning views. One wall is beautifully decorated with a flight of Swallows, a piece by our very own Craft Producer and ceramicist Dawn Youll.

In addition we now have a 79sq meter room named The Monument Trust Room (named after one of our major funders), with wooden floors designed with group activity, movement, screenings and presentations in mind, the 40 sq meter Robertson Room (named after our other major funder and in which we have been had several dinners for over 30 guests), a Library and IT area. These extra facilities allow the building to offer much more in the way of flexible spaces, able to perform multiple functions at any one time.

We also have two new units of accommodation and two new studios at the top of the site, increasing our capacity to accommodate twelve residents on site at any one time.

While the centre is new and impressive it still seems to have retained the old Cove Park charm, which has much to do with CameronWebster Architects’s sensitive design of the interior space, and windows that cleverly frame the rural landscape that surrounds the site.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank architects Cameron Webster, Clark Contracts, our Quantity Surveyor Doig & Smith, Project Manager Catharine Kidd and all involved in this ambitious project. Without the support of Creative Scotland, many trusts, foundations and individuals it would not have been possible, and we are hugely grateful.

Images by Ruth Clark.

Emergence of the new Artist Centre

A lot has happened on the Artist Centre construction site over the last 4 months, and as we excitedly wait for the fast approaching completion date Project Manager Catharine Kidd gives us a progress update....

With just three months to go before the opening of the new Artist Centre at Cove Park in July, the building has really taken shape and form since the last blog.  The building envelope is complete, and it is now possible to get a real sense of what it will look like from the outside with the cladding, black metal roof and large picture windows.  The spaces that have been created inside have been taking our breath away with the views that they are capturing, as is the volume and flow of the spaces.   Over the next couple of months the larch cladding will be finished, the internal finishes will be completed, the new biomass boiler installed, electrical works and plumbing completed as well as the new car parking areas laid.  Cove Park are busy preparing furniture lists and making all important decisions on kitchen taps and worktops ready to furnish and fit-out the new centre in June.

A view from the new building within the treeline from the existing pods.

New studios and accommodation at the end of the new building with warm larch cladding, and windows out across Loch Long.

View of the west and south elevations showing the majority of the new Artist spaces (from left end of the    building – studios and accommodation, offices, meeting room (on the corner), snug and dining area, and part     of the common room. 

View from new entrance area to snug (left) and the new meeting room (right).