The Forum is a community building in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

in England. It stands opposite St Peter Mancroft Church. Built on the site of the previous Norwich Library which burnt down in 1994, the Forum was designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, and built as a millennium project for the East of England, being finished in October 2001. The Forum is part of

Norwich 12 Norwich 12 was an initiative by Norwich Heritage Economic and Regeneration Trust (HEART) to develop 12 of Norwich's most iconic buildings into an integrated family of heritage attractions to act as an international showcase of English urban ...

, a collection of notable buildings in Norwich spanning the Norman, medieval, Georgian, Victorian and modern eras. It is visited by more than 2.5 million people every year. The majority of the public area of the building is occupied by the Norfolk & Norwich Millennium (NML)

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, which spans across all three floors and has been regularly named as the most popular library in the UK. The building was also home to the local Tourist Information Centre, which has now been replaced with a citizens' advice centre, and currently houses the

BBC East BBC East is one of BBC's English Regions covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, northern Buckinghamshire, and the majority of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. It is headquartered in The Forum, Norwich since 2003. It wa ...

offices and studios, where the regional television news bulletin ''

BBC Look East ''BBC Look East'' is the name of two separate BBC regional television news programmes for the East of England made by BBC East. History The first BBC television news bulletins for the East of England began on 5 October 1959. These bulletins ...

'' and local radio station BBC Radio Norfolk are based. An open mezzanine looks out across the floor and the glass front of the building, and currently houses a Pizza Express restaurant. The amphitheatre-like steps at the front have provided a venue for functions such as amateur theatrical performances, outdoor opera, musical competitions, art exhibitions, processions, and celebrations. Because the Forum is funded partly by lottery grants, they hold certain events which are free of charge for people to attend. The Forum is commonly used as a meeting place, and the plaza area attracts skateboarders and free runners.

References

External links

The Forum

Norfolk County Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forum, The Buildings and structures in Norwich Public libraries in Norfolk Tourist attractions in Norwich Art museums and galleries in Norfolk Buildings by Hopkins Architects