Scala Worcester Needs £1.5m More, Opening Now June 2027

Worcester City Council is being asked for another £1.5m to finish the Scala Arts Centre. The venue will not open to the public until June 2027. The original plan was to open in late 2026.

The request goes to the Policy and Resources Committee at the Guildhall at 7pm on Tuesday 1 September. If approved, it takes the council’s total commitment to the Scala project to over £6m. (Worcester City Council, Scala Arts Centre Project: Final Construction Phases, 1 September 2026, PDF)

The wider Angel Place regeneration began in 2020. It has been paid for by the government’s Future High Streets Fund of £17.9m, a Cultural Fund award of £2.23m, and the council’s own money.

Where the £1.5m goes

Officers are clear that no single item caused the overspend. The report says “a number of elements have added up”.

Of the £1.5m, £1.3m is capital and £200,000 is revenue. The council has no unallocated capital receipts, so officers recommend taking the money from an earmarked reserve held as a contingency.

That has a consequence. Forecast earmarked reserves would drop below £3m by 31 March 2028. They stood at £13.3m on 31 March 2026.

Why the former Scala theatre slipped

The council signed a £9,678,745 contract with Speller Metcalfe Malvern Ltd in December 2024. Work started at the end of January 2025, with completion forecast for mid-October 2026. In December 2025 the council added £590,000 of contingency.

Two things pushed the date back to mid-November 2026:

• fire protection work to the structure needed specialist design, and the approvals took longer than expected
• the live electricity supply for the Crown Hotel, which runs through the Scala building, had to be rerouted

The contractor has formally asked for an Extension of Time, which the council is still considering. Of the £9.678m contract sum, £7.136m of work has been certified so far. The extra pressure on this element alone is £300,000.

Why the Corn Exchange slipped further

The Corn Exchange was added to the same contract in March 2026, with a budget of £3.592m. It is now forecast to finish at the end of February 2027, and the extra cost pressure is £734,000.

The report lists what went wrong once the building was opened up:

• design changes around the lift position after the structure was revealed
• large amounts of builders’ rubble found in bricked-off areas of the basement
• poor condition of the cupola and parapet brickwork, found from the scaffolding, with a risk of falling debris
• unanticipated costs for smoke ventilation ducting and basement ventilation

The biggest single problem was power. National Grid advised that the supply available to the Corn Exchange is limited to 100 Amps. The council has accepted an offer to double that to 200 Amps by laying a new cable from the substation at Shaw Street, at a cost of around £200,000 including contingency.

National Grid told the council that going beyond 200 Amps is not currently feasible on Worcester’s network. That forced a redesign: the basement stays on gas heating, while the kitchen stays electric to a commercial standard. Moving the Corn Exchange off gas altogether has not been costed, but the report puts it in the range of £0.5m to £1m or more, as a future phase needing grant funding.

Angel Street dug up for 11 weeks

The last stage is the public realm. Worcestershire County Council is managing it as highway authority, using its contractor Ringway. The work covers resurfacing Angel Street, widening and repaving the footways, a loading bay outside the Corn Exchange, hostile vehicle mitigation in front of the Scala, and level access into the foyer.

It cannot start until the front elevation of the Corn Exchange is finished at the end of January 2027, and until National Grid has laid the new cable in Angel Street. Vodafone cables under the kerb line also have to be realigned first.

The county’s fixed price came in higher than expected, adding £100,000. The programme is 11 weeks, finishing during May 2027.

During those 11 weeks, access to the Scala and Corn Exchange will be badly affected. The report says there will be periods when “very limited access to the buildings can be given”. That is why Scala cannot yet announce any dates for early events in the buildings. The report expects those to follow later in the autumn. Scala’s own website still names no opening date. (Scala Worcester)

What it means for you

• Do not plan around a 2026 opening. The public opening date is now June 2027, and the buildings are not usable before the street works outside them finish in May 2027.
• Angel Street will be disrupted for 11 weeks in 2027. The exact start depends on National Grid and Vodafone finishing their cable work. Our Worcester roadworks and travel page tracks live closures in the city.
• Scala is already running events elsewhere. Its Festival of Play in May drew more than 6,150 people, and it currently occupies Arch 27. See what else is on in our things to do in Worcester guide.
• You can watch the decision. The meeting is public, at the Guildhall from 7pm on Tuesday, and the council live streams and records most of its meetings.

What Scala has been doing meanwhile

Scala Arts Centre Worcester was registered as a charitable incorporated organisation on 29 August 2025, charity number 1214736. Its registered address is the Guildhall. (Charity Commission)

The report sets out what it has delivered while the buildings are shut:

• more than 6,150 people attended its Festival of Play for children in May
• 150 children from Fort Royal and Regent schools took part, with an Open Theatre event planned for March 2027
• 1,500 children took part in aerial and circus activity at Worcester Show 2026
• 12 to 15 emerging artists are in its talent development Collective

It has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Heart of Worcestershire College, and is a delivery partner in the Arts Council funded Place Partnership programme.

A London drama school qualification, taught in Worcester

The report also asks councillors to let the council act as financial guarantor for a proposed partnership with Rose Bruford College, the performing arts higher education institution in south-east London.

The first programme being scoped is a one-year Certificate in Higher Education. Scala would teach it in Worcester, and Rose Bruford would validate it. Local students could get a Rose Bruford qualification without moving to London. Initial intakes would be capped at 10 students, with the course possibly starting in January 2028.

Rose Bruford has asked for a guarantee because Scala is a start-up with no trading history. Council officers put the financial risk at around £75,000 at any one time. The proposal is a four-year guarantee, matching the remaining four years of the council’s grant agreement with Scala.

The report says Scala will announce the partnership later this year if Rose Bruford’s due diligence completes.

Who owns this after 2028

Worcester City Council will not exist by the time the Rose Bruford course is due to start. The government confirmed in July 2026 that Worcestershire’s seven councils will be replaced by two unitary authorities, North Worcestershire and South Worcestershire, on 1 April 2028. Elections to shadow authorities are due in May 2027. (Worcestershire County Council)

The report notes that any further guarantee after the initial four years would be reviewed by the successor authority.