White City Place has signed an agreement with the Royal College of Art (RCA), the world’s leading university of art and design, to open a new Creative Hub in the Garden House building. The RCA is aiming to take possession of the whole building in March 2017 and to open its new hub for communication, architecture and humanities and their integrated practices in autumn 2017.

The RCA move will create an academic community of more than 700 students and staff in what is already becoming a hub for the creative industries, opening up further opportunities for interdisciplinary practice, including local external partners who can offer exhibition space, opportunities for live projects, digital direction partnerships and more. It is in close proximity to Imperial College London’s new state-of-the-art White City Campus and learning environment.

Making the move will be the RCA’s Schools of Communication and Humanities, alongside new programmes within the School of Architecture. Together, the three Schools will create a purposeful concentration of postgraduate enquiry, ensuring also that close links with RCA Architecture, Design, Fine Art, Applied Art and Fashion in Kensington and Battersea are maintained, as well as with the RCA’s existing partner institutions.