Mountview Academy
- Client: Focus Consultants
- Architect: Turner Works
- Contacts: Sean Tickle
- LPA: London Borough of Southwark
Mountview is one of the UK’s top five drama schools and a cultural organisation with an international reach. Mountview is a purpose-built facility located in the heart of Peckham, which blends training and public spaces, and provides 21 acting and dance studios, 12 music practice rooms, prop and set-building workshops, TV and radio studios, rehearsal spaces for visiting professional companies, as well as 280-seat fully-flexible theatres. It also brings commercial, retail, and food and beverage opportunities to a public space to contribute to the creation of a vibrant and active public realm.
The building was designed by Turner Works and won the RIBA London Award in 2021. Mountview is a destination building that complements Peckham’s Stirling Prize-winning library located next to the site and acts as a catalyst for further local improvement and innovation. The scheme brings 500+ full-time foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate students, 150+ staff, 9,000+ evening, weekend and holiday participants and 13,000+ theatre-goers and visitors per annum to what was previously a brownfield site.
Rolfe Judd Planning worked closely with the project team and the client throughout the design process to arrive at an optimal solution that allows for future flexibility and reflects the organisation’s individual identity. The proposals were subject to rigorous consultation with various stakeholders including pre-application discussions with the London Borough of Southwark and a comprehensive community engagement process.
Mountview comprises two interlocking buildings that provide both public and private spaces. Mountview provides a resource for the community with a restaurant, café and rooftop bar being publicly accessible year-round, as well as some studios and dedicated work hubs which have been designed to be lettable to third parties such as theatre groups or local organisations.
Mountview Academy has high sustainability credentials and achieves a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’. The height and massing of the scheme has been designed to respond to the surrounding built environment with a substantially set back fourth floor to protect the special architectural and historic interest of the adjacent listed buildings in Peckham Hill Street. Mountview was completed in September 2019.
