PLANS for a new-look Courtyard Centre for the Arts were revealed this week – as the county's cultural home outlined a 30,000 square foot extension to its Edgar Street building.

The increased space will be used, in part, to house small, creative businesses in a bid to keep the lights on at the Courtyard after council funding ends in 2016.

Richard Morgan, the centre’s chairman, explained the plan is to turn the theatre into a “cultural hub” – where those involved in arts and culture would rent office space side-by-side.

The hope is that this income, along with restaurant revenue from an expanded ground-floor cafe area, will be enough to fill the significant hole – around £200,000 a year – left when local authority funding is withdrawn.

And with that deadline looming, a timetable has been set which would see the project completed and open for use by 2017.

Mr Morgan said: “Every month we delay – under the current programme – costs the Courtyard £10,000 after council funding stops.”

He added that the scheme has already been well received among the county’s creative industries, with 25,000 square feet already covered by expressions of interest.

The work would see the building extended to the south and west, covering some of the current car park.

The ground floor would include an expanded seating area for the restaurant – “so people didn’t feel as though they were eating in a corridor,” said Mr Morgan – as well as flexible space that could be used for rehearsals or classes.

Upstairs will be two floors, divided into smaller areas that could be rented out to local creative firms.

“Ideally they will be for those people involved in arts and culture,” said Mr Morgan, who said he had four categories in mind for potential tenants ranging from the artistic to the more commercial.

“If that doesn’t look like it will work, we will have think quickly about other options.

“I have been told there is a shortage of good, modern office space in the city.”

He added that, for example, Hereford College of Arts graduates looking to set up in the area would fit into that top category, alongside companies like 2Faced Dance who are already basing themselves at the theatre.

The project will now move quickly, with Mr Morgan calling on any businesses with an interest in being involved to get in touch within the next month.

From October 17 the Courtyard will make public these initial plans on their website and as a hard copy accessible at their Box Office. Local residents will also be invited to a consultation event at a date yet to be set.

Those plans will be finalised by the end of the year, and fundraising will take place between January and June 2015.

If successful, construction will begin in 2016 ahead of a 2017 opening.