The prestigious and historic Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) has announced its plans to move to a brand new purpose-built headquarters in Battersea designed by architects Patel Taylor, and developed by Weinbergers and Fifth Capital. This news follows the council planners’ approval for the redevelopment of the Homebase warehouse store in York Road.

The new home for RAD and 254 homes will be housed in a revolutionary new tower formed by a series of staggered floor plates ‘wrapped’ by a continuous back-and-forth white frame, with communal landscaped gardens at the base. The site is located within the council’s Housing Zone area covering Clapham Junction to Battersea Riverside. The 57-acre project will provide 5,000 new homes, commercial floor space and 1,300 jobs.

The academy will be located at the ground floor, providing a plinth upon which three new housing buildings will ‘sit’. The new housing will include 38 affordable units, with car and bicycle parking provided in the basement. The academy and homes will be provided in three new buildings, ranging in size from six to 21 storeys.

The academy, which was founded in 1920 and whose patron is Her Majesty The Queen, has been based in the borough since 1972 but its current home is no longer suitable to provide top quality dance tuition. The new academy will offer bigger, brighter and better dance studios and performance space, with modernised changing rooms and office space, a library for RAD’s archives and two cafés.