Big Yellow Self Storage provides studio space to London Children’s Ballet after two hard years for the Arts industry during the pandemic

Following the recent opening of our new store in Battersea in November 2020, we are delighted to have created, in partnership with Wandsworth Council, much-needed space for renowned charity, London Children’s Ballet (LCB), an organisation that provides an avenue into the Arts for children from deprived backgrounds.

The space includes two state-of-the-art dance studios, complete with industry-leading Harlequinsprung dance floors, ballet barres and mirrors, as well as open-plan offices, a meeting room and changing facilities, and of course storage to house its collection of costumes and props.

Thanks to the provided space, LCB will be able to expand its training schedule and performing opportunities, whilst encouraging additional rising talent to join its programme.

The team at Big Yellow worked closely on the creation of the space alongside Wandsworth Council and Ruth Brill, Artistic Director at London Children’s Ballet, who commented: “We are so excited to build on our 25-year history with this new chapter at Big Yellow Self Storage. The past two years has been a period of change and uncertainty for the Arts, so we are thrilled that we can now re-start our work in providing young people from all backgrounds the chance to thrive through dance, thanks to the generosity of Big Yellow.”

James Gibson, Chief Executive Officer at Big Yellow added: “Here at Big Yellow we are passionate about giving back to the local communities which surround our stores up and down the country. As part of this work, we are incredibly excited to welcome London Children’s Ballet to our new Battersea store and hope the creation of the dance studio, as well as the storage space and meeting room, will offer invaluable support whilst encouraging further rising talent to get involved with such an outstanding organisation.”

The new Big Yellow Battersea store was opened to replace the previous Big Yellow store, following increase demand in the local area for further storage. The store is larger than its predecessor, boasting a 69,871 square footage, spread across an impressive 914 secure storage rooms, as well as the first-of-its-kind under-canopy parking for customers and staff. The space also includes 10 offices to let for small business customers.

As with all our stores, we took great pride in ensuring the store was fitted with a number of sustainability initiatives. These include a green roof to encourage local insect and bird wildlife to the area, an electric car charging pod, solar panels to generate electricity, motion-sensor lighting, and air-source heat pumps. All these sustainability features go towards our all-important, Big Green Commitment.

Beyond sustainability, we’ve also installed a heart defibrillator unit in order to boost the number of life-  saving devices in the local community.

More information on the new Battersea store can be found HERE.

You can find out more about the London Children’s Ballet HERE.