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Video: Royal College of Music Refurbishment

Designed by Arthur Blomfield, later Sir Arthur Blomfield, the Royal College of Music is striking for its French baronial towers, framing his signature gothic revival style. It is bounded by Imperial College on the west, south and east, and sits along an axis that runs from the main entrance of the Natural History Museum, through the Queen's Tower of Imperial College and the centre of the Albert Hall, finishing at the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens – a testament to the unifying ambition of artistic and scientific knowledge.

Rather piecemeal upgrades to this Grade II listed building over the years have resulted in some unattractive features, and a steep change in levels across the site makes for some disconcerting access arrangements with long narrow corridors, awkward staircases and poor wayfinding. But there are some wonders as well, with the Royal College of Music's museum of instruments hidden away in the basement, housing a wealth of treasures, and all of them over the years have contributed to the level of noise, admittedly often beautiful noise, filtering through into the main concert hall. So there has long been an urgent need to upgrade the main concert space in order to keep the noise out, rather more than keeping the noise in.

In this programme we take a look at the refurbishment process.