Henry Moore Foundation Receives Planning Permission for Redevelopment Project at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens
Press release
The Henry Moore Foundation, in collaboration with leading architects DSDHA, is delighted to announce the approval of planning permission for an exciting project that will transform the Sheep Field Barn Gallery, at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens in Hertfordshire, into a dedicated learning and exhibition space for all visitors. This redevelopment project marks a significant milestone in the Foundation’s commitment to visitor engagement and education.
Henry Moore, the renowned sculptor, was a strong advocate for education and established the Foundation with the purpose of inspiring enthusiasm for the fine arts. Over the years, the Foundation’s education programme has flourished, welcoming more than 2,000 school children annually and offering a diverse range of drop-in workshops, educational talks, and tours for people of all ages. The Sheep Field Barn, situated at the heart of the estate, has been identified as the ideal building for adaptation and extension to facilitate enhanced visitor engagement and learning activities.
“We are thrilled to have received planning permission for the architectural redevelopment of the Sheep Field Barn Gallery. This project represents a significant step in our ongoing mission to deepen our engagement with sculpture and the arts, inspired by Henry Moore’s passion for education.
“The transformed learning and exhibition space will enable us to engage with a wider audience and provide state-of-the-art facilities to facilitate a diverse range of educational and participatory activities. We are grateful to DSDHA for their expertise and partnership throughout this process.”
Lesley Wake, Chief Operating Officer at the Henry Moore Foundation
The vision for the project is to create a state-of-the-art facility that will support a comprehensive engagement programme catering to diverse audiences, including school and community groups, students, academics, life-long learners and visitors generally. The modernised gallery spaces will include a public exhibition of the life and work of Henry Moore at the Studios & Gardens that will be an integral part of the visitor experience.
The design also incorporates two state-of-the-art education spaces, offering cutting-edge facilities for immersive learning experiences. DSDHA’s proposal will create a simple, unified building which retains the structure and most of its envelope, extending and overcladding the existing steel frame barn. The extension will provide captivating views of the sheep fields beyond the barn, complementing the tranquil character of Henry Moore Studios & Gardens. Furthermore, the project aligns with the Foundation’s commitment to sustainability by contributing to its aspiration of becoming carbon net-zero.
“Our approved designs for the redevelopment of the Sheep Field Barn at Henry Moore Studios & Gardens will see the retrofit and upgrade of the existing gallery extended with a new learning and interpretation centre.
“The design has been developed in close collaboration with the client and engagement team to be an inclusive and welcoming environment for all visitors – celebrating the building’s relationship, and offering a choreographed sequence of important views, to the sculptures of Henry Moore and the verdant landscape in which they sit.”
Deborah Saunt, Founding Director at DSDHA
Upgrading the thermal performance of the barn and constructing the new extension from a timber frame is central to the design team’s commitment to sustainability and builds on Moore’s frugal approach to the structures already on-site. The timber frame will be supported on lightweight screw piles, avoiding the need for concrete foundations and therefore helping to reduce embodied carbon. The internal timber structure will be predominantly exposed, celebrating the structure’s simplicity and limiting the need for unnecessary lining materials, while the external façade will be either responsibly sourced or repurposed timber, robustly insulated to reduce the building’s operational carbon.
With planning permission secured, the Henry Moore Foundation and DSDHA are eager to commence work on this transformative project with building work set to commence in spring 2024.
Contractors can express their interest to Stockdale LLP on office@stockdaleuk.com
For further information and images please contact:
Emily Dodgson, Head of Marketing & Communications
Henry Moore Foundation
emily.dodgson@henry-moore.org
Tejal Dave-Biyani, Senior Account Director
Caro Communications on behalf of DSDHA
tejal@carocommunications.com
Notes to editors
About the Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation was founded by the artist and his family in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts.
Today we support innovative sculpture projects, devise an imaginative programme of exhibitions and research worldwide, and preserve the legacy of Moore himself: one of the great sculptors of the 20th century, who did so much to bring the art form to a wider audience.
We run two venues, in Leeds and Hertfordshire, showing a mix of Moore’s own work and other sculpture.
We also fund a variety of sculpture projects through our Henry Moore Grants and Research programmes and we have a world-class collection of artworks which regularly tour both nationally and internationally.
A registered charity, we award grants to arts organisations around the world, with a mission to bring great sculpture to as many people as possible.
About Henry Moore Studios & Gardens
Henry Moore Studios & Gardens is the former home and work-place of sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986). From 1940 until his death in 1986, Moore lived and worked in rural Hertfordshire where he acquired over 60 acres of land and set up various studios, creating the ideal environment in which he could make and display his work and cater to an international demand for exhibitions.
Now open to the public, Henry Moore Studios & Gardens offers a unique insight into the artist’s working practice and showcases a large selection of Moore’s renowned monumental sculptures in the landscape in which they were created.
We also present annually changing exhibitions, which further illuminate the life and work of the sculptor, and are home to the Henry Moore Archive, one of the largest single-artist archives in the world.
Our visitor season runs from 5 April to 29 October 2023
We are open Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays, 11:00–17:00
About the Henry Moore Institute
The Henry Moore Institute is situated on The Headrow, next to Leeds Art Gallery, in Leeds city centre’s cultural hub, just a five-minute walk from Leeds Station.
We welcome everyone to visit our Galleries, Research Library and Archive of Sculptors’ Papers to experience, study and enjoy sculpture from around the world.
The Institute can be found in the centre of Leeds, the city where Henry Moore (1898-1986) began his training as a sculptor. Our changing programme of historical, modern and contemporary exhibitions and events encourage thinking about what sculpture is, how it is made and the artists who make it.
As part of the Henry Moore Foundation, we are a hub for sculpture, connecting a global network of artists and scholars, continuing research into the art form and ensuring that sculpture is accessible and celebrated by a wide audience.
The Institute turned thirty in April 2023 and is celebrating by shining a light on the past and the future of sculpture in the city.
The long-established partnership of Leeds City Council and the Henry Moore Foundation began with the development of the Sculpture Study Centre in Leeds Art Gallery in 1982 and led to the development of the Henry Moore Institute in 1993. It now represents an unparalleled collaboration in the collection, study and presentation of sculpture. The City Council’s sculpture collection lies at the heart of our work together, and is underpinned by the curatorial and research expertise of the Henry Moore Institute.
Free entry
Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00–17:00
About DSDHA
DSDHA is an architecture, urban design and spatial research studio, established by Deborah Saunt and David Hills.
Known for their high-profile urban strategies, landscapes and innovative buildings, often in complex historic environments, as well as widely-acclaimed research, they have been recognised with 19 RIBA Awards to date, shortlisted for the RIBA Stirling Prize, and twice nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.
Blurring the boundaries between infrastructure, landscape, architecture and art, their work is the result of extensive dialogue with communities, stakeholders and collaborators to deliver projects that have the broadest impact.