Great Yarmouth circus and arts group get £1.9m to convert building

The Ice House, a Grade II listed building will become a centre for circus and outdoor arts training and performances

A building once used to store fish is to be turned into a centre for circus skills and outdoor arts after organisers were given funding of £1.9m.

The Ice House in Great Yarmouth, a Grade II listed building, will be converted into a training centre.

Taraneh Jahanpour, of Out There Arts, which campaigned for the money, said they were "elated" to get the Lottery Heritage Fund cash.

Work to transform the Ice House would begin in 2024.

The building once contained ice for storing fish

Joe Mackintosh, chief executive of Out There Arts, said: "Thousands of people will benefit from this and it will strengthen Great Yarmouth's year-round cultural offer."

The arts organisation already runs Drill House, a "creation space" in the town, for artists from the UK, and elsewhere, to develop their skills for performances at festivals locally and around the country.

Taraneh Jahanpour said the cash from the National Lottery would help the town secure its place as a UK centre of excellence for circus and outdoor arts

Out There Arts also run a circus school for children at Drill House but Ms Jahanpour said they "were at capacity" and that the Ice House would allow them to do more.

"We want to develop vocational training, something that is a stepping stone to a higher education," she said.

"We want to work with colleges, with schools. We want to offer a venue for live music which we can't do at the Drill House."

Those behind the transformation of the building said it would be two years before the centre opened.

Built between 1851 and 1892, the Ice House was once a vital asset in the town's once-thriving fishing industry, enabling the storage of freshly caught seafood before transportation to London's Billingsgate fish market and other parts of the country.