The new CEO of Norfolk’s busiest public building said he wants to welcome even more people through the door, with a roster of ideas to expand what it offers.
As one of the most recognisable buildings in the county, The Forum, which is home to the Norfolk and Norwich Millenium Library, has established itself as a key community hub over the past 20 years.
Welcoming more than a million people through the doors each year, the imposing glass and steel structure houses not only books, but a Pizza Express, coffee shop, amphitheatre, and the BBC East headquarters.
A packed programme of events, which include the Norwich Science Festival, men's knitting groups, a Makers Festival, and multiple Christmas markets, is central to its mission to help people of all backgrounds and incomes get involved with the city’s cultural happenings.
And with a fresh CEO in place, the team at The Forum is gearing up to expand its offerings even further.
Chris Gribble, the former chief executive for the Norwich-based National Centre for Writing, started the new role last month and said it had been a “whirlwind” of activity since day one.
“I’ve had everything from taking care of a lady who’d had an accident over on Theatre Street, through to dealing with three different colonies of bats that roost in our trees, to a large vehicle whose wheels didn’t set off the motion sensor in our car park and ended up getting hit by the barrier coming down on them.”
“We’re waiting for our own reality TV show - so much goes on here in the course of a day.”
Despite a busy start, Mr Gribble said he’s already got plenty of ideas for the “next chapter” of the venue.
He said: “We know there are some groups and some communities that don’t and won’t come in here, and we want to find out why that is so we can change that.
“We want to make sure the partners we have in here and the events we put on are offering the full range of services and events people are looking for, wherever they are in the county.”
One of his top priorities, Mr Gribble said, was helping people struggling in the cost of living crisis to engage with events and access support.
The Forum puts on a number of free events each year, with several non-ticketed events included in the Science Festival programme.
The new CEO said he’d like to expand these offerings even further.
“Books are really important, but that’s not all a library does anymore," he added.
“It's a really tough economic climate, there’s a lot of challenge out there, so we’re looking at what we can do to support people through that and helping them discover what’s more widely available to them in Norwich and Norfolk.
“We want to be that point of access for people whatever they’re going through.”
On the topic of rising costs, Mr Gibble added that the venue has been looking at its own expenses, with a plan in place to seriously reduce its energy use.
In January, the team will replace all of its major lights with LED bulbs, which Mr Gribble said will knock around 15-18pc of its total energy use.
He said: “We’re down year on year by around 8pc on our energy use - this stuff was barely on the radar when this place opened 20 years ago, so we’re having to work hard to keep up.
“The good news is that this place is incredibly flexible, which has stood us in good stead and will continue to stand us in good stead.”
THE FORUM IN NUMBERS
- There are approximately 320,000 items in the Millennium library – this is mainly books it includes DVDs and CDs too
- An incredible 1,235 panes of glass in the building or 18,000 square meters - that's equivalent to 3.5 football pitches
- It takes a specialist team of people, including abseilers, 3 days and 3 nights to clean all the glass in The Forum
- Approximately half a million bricks were used in construction
- The front glass façade is 15 metres or five storeys high
- About 78,000 pizzas are served at Pizza Express each year
- There are 92 CCTV cameras in the venue
- So far this year about 230,000 cars have used the car park
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