Picture shows IKEA being stripped bare amid reports of clear-out

[Melisandre]

More like a carbuncle on the city .

[dutchman]

Council agrees to buy former Ikea Coventry store to turn into arts facility



Ambitious plans to transform Coventry's Ikea building into an arts and culture facility have been given the green light.

Members unanimously approved plans for Coventry City Council to buy the leasehold of the site for an undisclosed sum at full council on Tuesday (February 23).

A further £1.31m will also be spent on detailed design options to convert the huge seven-storey, 53,904 sqm venue.

The multi-million-pound project would house some of the country’s greatest works of art and provide greater public access to Coventry’s own cultural and heritage collections, the city council has said.

Cllr David Welsh, cabinet member for communities, said: “Ikea leaving was very much seen as a negative. What is really exciting about this is how we managed to turn that into a real positive for the city.

“What we are doing is bringing together some national partners in British Council and Arts Council England, national partners with international reach that are looking to work with Culture Coventry that hold our national collection, with learning opportunities at Coventry University.

There’s a real opportunity there to elevate culture to a level we haven’t seen in the city in decades.”

Around 8,000 works from the Arts Council Collection and more than 8,500 works from The British Council Collection could be housed in the facility, alongside collections within Coventry Culture Trust and Transport Museum.

Its 53,904 sqm floor space would make it one of the largest arts facilities in the world, and it is also said to pump more than £185m into the West Midlands economy over the next decade.

[rebbonk]

Anyone like to bet that for 90% of the opening hours it'll be virtually empty?