At approximately 4:20pm on Friday 13 March a fire of devastating scale destroyed the Grand Hall and Lower Hall at the back of the town hall building that is home to Battersea Arts Centre. All staff and visitors were evacuated to safety.

Thanks to the brilliant efforts of the emergency services the front half of the building was untouched and is safe. The aim is for the front of the building to re-open to the public at 6pm today and all shows apart from Gecko’s Missing will run as scheduled.

Battersea Arts Centre has been overwhelmed by the outpourings of support on social media and by the generosity of more than 600 people who have already donated more than £14,000 towards the building repairs. Every contribution counts, and those who wish to support at this difficult time can donate via the fundraising page dona.to/bac012 set up by the National Fundraising Scheme.

Artistic Director and CEO David Jubb has written a blog on expressing his gratitude and also saying: ‘Today we start the next chapter. We want to get the shows back on and rebuild the building brick by brick’.

Whilst an investigation is mounted into the cause of the blaze, which is still unknown, any updates will feature on the homepage at bac.org.uk as well as on Twitter @battersea_arts @davidjubb.

Press Contact: Olivia Ivens | [email protected] | 020 7326 8259