FUTURE YARD 2.O

We are excited to announce that Future Yard is growing! Starting in March, we are building a bold expansion of our existing home on Argyle Street that will transform what we can deliver for artists, audiences and young people, and opening in the Autumn. At the heart of this construction project is a new, 600-capacity dedicated indoor live music venue, built on the site of our current garden and physically connected to our existing building by a brand-new studio complex.

This is everything you love about Future Yard, turned up to 11!

Our new space will allow us to present larger, more established artists on a weekly basis, while continuing to platform emerging talent. It will be a purpose-built, year-round performance space designed to meet the realities of modern live music production. As well as the new live space, it will include new dressing rooms and backstage facilities, dedicated artist and audience toilets and best-in-class PA, lighting and AV systems (installed in partnership with Adlib).

WATCH NEW VENUE FLY-THROUGH HERE

It is hugely sad to be saying farewell to our Garden, the outside space which has hosted many great shows, festivals and events since we opened it up in 2021. It retains a massively important place in our hearts, and we’ll miss sitting out in the Birkenhead sun while listening to great music; but the reality is that we need a new, contained space to continue our expansion, while fitting into the modern urban environment.

But the new venue will look and feel unmistakably Future Yard, carrying forward our distinct aesthetic and commitment to beautifully produced live shows. Glazed sections at the back will allow natural daylight when required – or a full black-box gig experience when it isn’t.

Crucially, this expansion means more headline shows, more opportunities for emerging artists to perform at scale, and larger, more complex real-world learning environments for our Sound Check trainees.

During the building process, our current Live Room and studios will be unaffected and we will continue to operate as normal, putting on shows, running training programmes, open for rehearsals. There will be occasional moments when the construction work will impact some small areas of operating – but we will make sure to update our customers clearly where this will affect them.

The new building has been designed in line with the seven principles of universal design, ensuring it is inclusive from the ground up. It will be fully accessible, with full rolling access at ground level and dedicated raised viewing areas for audience members with access requirements. The stage will also be accessed by a platform lift access to the stage – and a new studios entrance with passenger lift will make the whole current and existing venue’s first floor will be fully accessible. As well as accessible toilet facilities throughout, we’ll also be installing a dedicated Changing Places facility. Accessibility is not an add-on. It is embedded in the architecture.

The new building also complies with our aims around sustainability, and is central to our commitment to achieving operational net zero by 2030 – positioning Future Yard among the first arts organisations in the UK to reach that goal. The building has been designed as a low-energy space and will feature a sustainable heat recovery system, and efficient capture and re-servicing of warm air within the live performance space. This isn’t just an expansion – it’s a future-facing cultural building designed to serve generations to come.

With the entrance to the new venue space at the rear of the site, on Henry Street, connecting the new venue to our existing space will be a state-of-the-art studios complex. We will build 12 acoustically treated, dedicated music studios and teaching spaces in a one-storey extension. This modular facility will:

Partition into up to 15 smaller spaces as required
Support individual tuition and small group lessons
Host Band Clubs, workshops and full class sessions
Provide fit-for-purpose teaching space for our expanding schools programme
All studios will feature large floor-to-ceiling windows and have been designed with accessibility at their core. These studios will become the home of Sound Check, New Noise, Propeller and our ambitious school partnerships.

This expansion will turbocharge Future Yard’s impact across Birkenhead and beyond. Once complete, our new building complex will directly enable us to deliver at least 50 additional Future Yard shows per year; at least 150 additional local artist performances annually; a 50% increase in live audiences, rising to 100% by year five; 2,000 additional hours of practical experience for Sound Check trainees; 3,500 children accessing our new schools music curriculum on site; a 50% increase in capacity for Mosh Tots sessions; a 100% increase in Neighbourhood Tickets, including 2,000 free tickets distributed in the first full year of operation.

This whole construction project has been supported by public funding, through Arts Council England’s Capital Programme and MHCLG’s Town Deal support, through Wirral Council. The whole project will cost £3m, of which we have 95% of the funds secured. We are looking to raise the final £150,000 we need to complete the work through the Build Our Future fundraiser, launching on Friday 27th February 2026.

This is not just a bigger venue. It is a permanent, accessible, environmentally responsible cultural engine – unlocking opportunity, skills, confidence and joy for local people, for generations to come.

You can help us Build Our Future and realise this ambition by contributing to our fundraising campaign – going live on Friday 27th February.

THE FUTURE IS BIRKENHEAD