News & Stories

Wolfson Foundation Awards £200,000 Towards the Restoration of Historic Smith Square Hall

Mon 3 Aug 2026

Sinfonia Smith Square has been awarded £200,000 from the Wolfson Foundation towards its landmark Doors Open capital project, supporting the restoration and renewal of the Grade I listed Smith Square Hall in Westminster.

The grant will help conserve one of Britain’s most important concert halls and remove it from Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, while creating the facilities needed to secure its future as a centre for world-class performance, professional musician training and community engagement.

At the heart of the restoration, the Hall’s crypt will be configured to create a dedicated Learning Space, providing a purpose-built space for school workshops, community music projects and creative learning. The new space will enhance the rehearsal and workshop facilities for Sinfonia Smith Square’s acclaimed international orchestral Fellowship programme, which has supported more than 700 emerging professional musicians from around the world since its launch in 2002.

We are enormously grateful to the Wolfson Foundation for this significant investment in the future of Smith Square Hall. Their support will help safeguard one of Britain's great historic concert halls while ensuring it continues to inspire audiences, nurture outstanding young musicians and serve communities for generations to come. Doors Open is about much more than restoring a remarkable building. It is about opening the Hall to everyone - to the families, schools and communities on our doorstep and further afield who have never had access to the music and education it can offer. The Wolfson Foundation's support brings us an important step closer to realising that vision.

Rosie Fraser Chief Executive, Sinfonia Smith Square

This is a compelling project. It brings together the restoration of a Baroque masterpiece - Smith Square Hall - with the creation of new performance facilities. Crucially, these improvements - as well as allowing for wonderfully creative performances - also expand opportunities for participation in music making, not least by nurturing a new generation of extraordinary musicians.

Paul Ramsbottom Chief Executive, Wolfson Foundation

The Doors Open capital project represents the most significant transformation of Smith Square Hall since its post-war reconstruction as a concert hall in 1969.

Once complete, the restored Hall will welcome more than 90,000 visitors annually while significantly expanding its artistic, engagement and community programmes. Construction is expected to begin in late 2027, with Smith Square Hall reopening in 2029 as a revitalised home for music, learning and heritage.