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£2 million Foyle Foundation legacy gift as RWCMD begins work to transform heritage Old Library
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama has been awarded a £2 million legacy gift from The Foyle Foundation and has received planning permission to continue its reimagining of Cardiff’s Old Library building.
The Old Library: creating a cultural and educational hub
Alongside financial support of £1.2m from Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Fund and the Digarbon loan fund delivered by Salix, this means that all funding has been secured for the first phase of the capital project, which will start at the end of October 2025.
Other funding, which was announced last year, has come from major gifts from Sir Howard and Jennifer Stringer, and an anonymous donor, as well as a grant from the Simon Gibson Charitable Trust. The Old Library project is at the heart of the vision for the College’s future – where the arts meet community and where students’ learning is enhanced by being in a civic, inclusive space. Without their generosity, and the goodwill of the Council, RWCMD would not be able to seize this amazing opportunity to expand its teaching, its community work and its public reach, seeing this building restored, reimagined, and alive with purpose.
The College has appointed a main contractor and preparation for the work has begun. This work will only affect the College areas of the building and does not affect Menter Caerdydd or The Museum of Cardiff, which will remain open as normal during the building process with access via Trinity Street.
Phase One is due to complete in Summer 2026.
‘As Wales’ national conservatoire, we are delighted to announce the next stage of our work, returning to and re-imagining the original purpose of this important and historic building as a centre for the arts and learning, and extending the College’s reach into the wider community.
This unique opportunity reflects our determination to make the arts central to society, to do more to connect with diverse communities, and to realise our ambition of a ‘people’s conservatoire’ – a place where students, artists and local communities come together to co-create inspiring performances, exhibitions and meaningful participation.’Helena GauntPrincipal, RWCMD
Naming the Foyle Foundation gift
The Old Library will become a major new arts and education hub in the heart of Cardiff, with the focus of Phase one works making the entrance welcoming and accessible, encouraging people to enter and engage with the space.
As a critical area of transition connecting the Old Library to the public shopping area on The Hayes, the current glass box entrance will be replaced with new steps and a ramp, and the ground floor main entrance and the foyer will be renovated. The steps and pop-up stages will provide a space for free performances and activity.
In recognition of the gift from the Foyle Foundation they will be named the Foyle Steps, the Foyle Foyer and the Foyle Stages.
This project will have a real impact for Cardiff city centre, contributing to its non-retail regeneration post-Covid.
‘In addition to our increased budget for our normal grant giving programmes in our final year of operation, the Foundation wished to make a range of special grants across the country which would be of national and regional importance and of long-term benefit to sector leaders.
The legacy grant to the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama brings Cardiff’s Old Library back into public use to provide much needed additional facilities for the national conservatoire of Wales and creates a valuable community asset in the heart of Cardiff.’David HallChief Executive of the Foyle Foundation
‘The Old Library is an important part of Cardiff’s history and a significant landmark in the city centre.
As a Council, we’re pleased to be working with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama to help open the page on its next chapter.
Its transformation into a hub for creativity and the arts by one of our most prestigious cultural institutions, ensures it is protected and preserved for generations to come, and places music and performance right where it belongs – firmly at the heart of the city’s future.’Cllr Huw ThomasLeader of Cardiff Council
Director of public sector decarbonisation at Salix, Ian Rodger said: ‘It’s a huge privilege to work with The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama on this incredibly creative project which offers tremendous value to the community.
Digarbon offers the opportunity to help future proof the Old Library. We’re delighted to work with Welsh Government and Welsh Government Energy Service to deliver the loan funding, enabling the public sector meet its ambitious net zero targets.’
A new campus for the College
The Old Library will act as an extension of the current RWCMD North Road and Llanishen campuses, with students and staff regularly moving between buildings for classes, workshops, rehearsals and performances.
The location of the Old Library means that it will be an important hub for RWCMD’s community and participation work, with a key cultural set of relationships building on existing partnerships and creating new ones, including the redeveloped St David’s Hall, the Castle, and The National Museum Cardiff, as well as looking forward to providing year-round free and ticketed performances.
For example, the College’s Good Vibrations Chorus, free weekly sessions with a focus on those with Parkinsons, already rehearse here.
Editors notes
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama nurtures and challenges the best creative talent from across the globe, empowering excellence, firing imagination and driving innovation. As Wales’ national conservatoire and largest producing house, we train more than 900 actors, musicians, designers, technicians and arts managers from over 40 countries, for a sustainable career in the arts as leaders of the next generation of artists.
Our students are immersed in a live industry environment from the moment they arrive, pushing the boundaries of what the arts can do to make society better, collaborating and creating new work across a range of professional and community settings.
We are a space for everyone, creative ambition and collaboration are central to our excellence.
Phase One: This capital project will deliver the following outputs by Summer 2026:
- Major improvements to the approach to this iconic city centre building, enabling a significant increase in public engagement. RWCMD will replace the obscured-glass porch, railings, and conflicting entrances with an accessible, simple, welcoming approach that also addresses the significant separation caused by the raised door level. The broad, shallow steps and built-in slopes will allow full accessibility. A terrace will provide occasional space for public performances to engage the public and signpost the activity within.
- A new multi-purpose entrance foyer with seating and public/community space for free performances, activities and exhibitions.
- A new 250 capacity venue – the Sir Howard Stringer Studio – with a busy programme of music performance from RWCMD students and visiting UK and international artists (including classical and contemporary music, opera, musical theatre and puppetry). The Phase one works will see the removal of a 1990s internal staircase to reveal and restore the building’s original windows and light; an innovative technical solution to deliver excellent acoustics; and tasteful restoration of historic features.
- New secondary noise and carbon-reducing glazing will be added to key areas of the building, as well as the restoration of original listed windows.
The Foyle Foundation
The Foyle Foundation was established in 2000 as an independent grant making trust to distribute grants to UK based charities (primarily arts and learning) and schools. The Foundation’s long planned spend down and closure takes place in December 2025 by when it will have distributed over £185M in total, including a number of legacy projects with long term benefit.
Salix
Salix’s role is to support UK governments in driving the transition to a low carbon future and meet challenging net zero targets. They are on a mission to save the planet, delivering and administering grant and loan funding on behalf Welsh Government, as well as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Scottish Governments. This is delivered across the public sector as well as housing, with schemes are dedicated to reducing carbon emissions and supporting the government’s ambitious net zero targets. These programmes include Digarbon in Wales. Digarbon provides loan funding for further and higher education institutions in Wales to support the implementation of heat decarbonisation, energy efficiency, renewable, and electric vehicle and electric vehicle charging infrastructure measures. Salix also delivers the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund.
They also play an important role in increasing awareness of energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation across the public sector throughout the UK. Their teams work closely with the public sector organisations throughout their decarbonisation journey, from the moment a grant is allocated to the moment the scheme is fully operational.
