There was a time there where it didn’t seem like you were a Vault artist unless you were sanding a floor, throwing pre-unloved carpet into a skip, removing false ceilings to reveal beautiful iron beams and wooden ceilings, or taking a heat gun to some lead paint (oops). Social media was awash with frenetic sped-up videos of painting, scrubbing and artists lying exhausted on the floor. We had a huge response to our GoFundMe campaign which we are so grateful for – we reached our target thanks to the generous donations of all kinds of people and organisations who love what we’re about. All of this was in aid of restoring to working order of the beautiful Shankill Mission Building on the Shankill Road.

The building is our first secure, long-term home (for the next 9 years!!!). We are so grateful to the building owners, Argyle Business Centre, for partnering with us to bring this building back to life. Argyle have shown immense trust in Vault's vision for the building and have invested heavily in the work needed to make the building weathertight, but they have also invested in us. For this, we thank them immensely.

Many of our rentable spaces, so needed by our regular users back in Tower Street will exist in the building. They will include (names subject to change) the ‘Octagon Performance Space’ (ground floor and accessible); a ‘Rehearsal Space’ on the first floor, perfect for creation, rehearsals, meetings, presentations etc. The Dance Studio with a solid wood floor is on the second floor.

We’ll be announcing more details soon – for now see “Venue Hire” for further details including dimensions and floor plans. As for when these places are ready to rent, we would say “watch this space” but who has time to watch a space? We’ll find another way of getting the news to you – in fact, why not give two fingers to giant social media corporations and sign up instead for our irregular newsletter?