The Duke joined supporters of the appeal, contractors from the building project and students and staff of The Place for a reception in the new studios on Tuesday 6 May. This was followed by a performances from the full range of dance artists working at The Place: young dancers from our Centre for Advanced Training, students of London Contemporary Dance School and the professional dancers of Richard Alston Dance Company.

The two new, state-of-the-art studios on the top floor of The Place's Flaxman Terrace building will provide over 7,000 extra studio hours each year for our work. The time will be split equally between:

• work with young people, especially those from the local community
• space for professional artists: particularly for choreographic development
  
• increased time for students to work on their own creative projects
  

The new studios will thus increase the diversity of dance taking place daily in the building.

The building project was completed on time and on budget by lead contractors Killby and Gayford and architects Allies and Morrison, and the new spaces are already in constant use. The Place now has a total of 11 superbly-appointed studios, in addition to its theatre and other facilities. 

The Reaching for the Stars Appeal has to date raised nearly £1million towards the £1.3million target for this project, and fundraising work will continue. We are enormously grateful to everyone who has contributed their time, effort, ideas and money towards realising this ambitious project.