Inverness Creative Academy

Inverness Creative Academy is an arts centre and creative workspace in Inverness, Scotland. Operated by Wasps Studios, it occupies the former Inverness Royal Academy buildings at Midmills, close to the city centre. The Category B listed complex consists principally of an academy building completed in 1895 and an Arts and Science extension dating from 1913.

The Creative Academy provides studios for artists and makers, workspace for creative businesses, social enterprises and charities, co-working and meeting space, a darkroom, workshops and public exhibition and events spaces. Wasps developed the site in two phases between 2018 and 2022. The completed conversion was reported to have cost around £6 million.

History

Educational use

The main Midmills building was constructed between 1893 and 1895 for Inverness Royal Academy, which moved there from Academy Street in 1895. It was designed by the Inverness architectural partnership Ross & Macbeth. Built principally of local red sandstone, the two-storey building has a symmetrical T-plan and draws on French Renaissance and Beaux-Arts architecture. Its interior was arranged around a double-height central hall and included an imperial staircase with decorative ironwork.

A janitor's lodge was added around 1899. A substantial Arts and Science extension followed in 1913, designed in similar materials and style and attributed to Robert John Macbeth. The main building and the 1913 block were designated as Category B listed buildings in 1981. Following a reassessment in 2014, the statutory listing was amended to make explicit the inclusion of the lodge, boundary wall, railings and gatepiers.

Inverness Royal Academy began moving to a new campus at Culduthel in August 1977. Both sites remained in use for two academic sessions and the school left Midmills completely in August 1979. The buildings were then used temporarily by the newly established Culloden Academy, pending completion of its own premises, before becoming part of Inverness College. Inverness College used Midmills until moving its main operations to the new Inverness Campus in 2015.

Conversion to creative academy

Wasps began exploratory work on a creative hub in the Highlands in 2014 with support from the Scottish Cities Alliance. A survey carried out in May 2015 received responses from 157 people working in creative fields in Inverness and the surrounding area. Wasps began feasibility work on the former Royal Academy buildings at Midmills that summer. Subsequent research and consultation involved more than 500 participants.

Plans for the wider former college site were developed jointly by Wasps, Highland Council and McCarthy & Stone. In August 2016, Highland Council granted planning permission for redevelopment of the campus, including conversion of the listed buildings into a creative hub alongside sheltered and affordable housing. Wasps subsequently acquired the listed academy buildings.

The first phase restored the 1913 Arts and Science block. The work was designed by LDN Architects and carried out by Robertson Northern. Completed in November 2018, it cost about £2.2 million and created 32 artist and maker studios, a community darkroom, workshop space and an exhibition and events venue in the former gymnasium. The £2.2 million phase included £1.2 million from the Scottish Government's Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, distributed through Highland Council. Artists began moving into the studios in December 2018, and the studios reached full occupancy within six months.

In October 2019, Inverness College returned to Midmills as a tenant, using space in the Creative Academy for art students and collaborative projects.

The second phase involved restoration of the original 1895 academy building. Construction began in January 2020, with Bancon Construction as the main contractor. The phase had an initial budget of about £3.3 million and was intended to provide workspace for creative businesses and cultural organisations, co-working facilities, meeting rooms, exhibition and events space and a public café in the former Assembly Hall. Historic Environment Scotland awarded £500,000 towards conservation of the 1895 building. Other support came from bodies including the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the Scottish Government, Highland Council and the Inverness Common Good Fund.

Construction was suspended on 24 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland. Work resumed in July after a closure of about 15 weeks. The pandemic and subsequent supply-chain problems delayed completion and increased costs. Wasps reported raising a further £680,577 in capital donations after the shutdown. A crowdfunding campaign organised with Art Fund, called #IlluminateHighlands, raised £28,141 from 102 donors towards feature lighting in the Assembly Hall.

The second phase was completed in February 2022. By then the full two-building conversion was reported as a £6 million project. The completed complex opened with accommodation for artists alongside offices and flexible workspace for creative businesses, charities and social enterprises. The Princess Royal officially opened Inverness Creative Academy in May 2022.

Architecture and facilities

The original 1895 building is a two-storey, seven-bay symmetrical building constructed in red sandstone ashlar. Historic Environment Scotland describes its design as François I in style, influenced by the French Renaissance and the Beaux-Arts movement. The principal elevation includes large transomed windows, carved tympana and a central belfry. Inside, the original plan centres on a double-height hall with an atrium and an imperial staircase with decorative ironwork. The 1913 extension was built in similar materials and architectural style.

LDN Architects' conversion retained and repaired historic fabric while removing later internal alterations. In the 1895 building, the central Assembly Hall was returned to a single open volume, with former classrooms around it adapted as workspaces. Exterior work included repairs to stonework, lime pointing, slate and leadwork and conservation of the bell tower. New lifts and a ramped entrance were added as part of accessibility works.

The completed Creative Academy includes 32 artist studios in the first-phase building, a traditional darkroom, workshop facilities and an events space in the former gymnasium. The second building contains creative-industry and social-enterprise workspaces, meeting and co-working facilities, a café and exhibition and events space in the restored Assembly Hall.

Recognition

Inverness Creative Academy was shortlisted in the Creative Regeneration category of the 2019 SURF Awards. In 2022, LDN Architects won the Highlands and Islands Architectural Association award in the New Life for Existing Buildings category for Inverness Creative Academy. The project was also shortlisted in the Public Building category of the 2023 Scottish Design Awards and for an AJ Retrofit Award in the same year.