Called the Village Underground, the striking development is situated in Shoreditch, the heart of London's artistic community, and will be unveiled in the summer. The ROCKWOOL Group's company in the UK, ROCKWOOL Ltd., is among the participants in this unique scheme.

Village Underground aims to help disadvantaged young people develop skills that can be transferred into the work place. It is surrounded by some of the most deprived areas in the UK and will provide access to arts and cultural facilities for the local community and for visitors.

Inspiring work spaces Several London Underground train carriages are being converted into eye catching high specification studios, creating inspiring work spaces for future creative talent. The complex also has a rooftop garden complete with an outdoor cinema, fully equipped fi lm and photography studios and a venue for live music performances.

Tom Foxcroft, Project Manager at the Village Underground Project comments: "This is a really exciting project that will give the local community and visitors to the area a very special place to develop their creative talents. The ROCKWOOL donation of insulation is of major benefit to the project, not least because it ensures the carriages provide a comfortable place for the artists to work, but also because it will significantly minimise our carbon footprint. We have carefully specified construction products to ensure the Village Underground project is as sustainable a development as possible and ROCKWOOL insulation life cycle assessments easily met our strict environmental criteria. The Village Underground cultural centre has already been rated as East London's most exciting new art space and has been host to fashion-shows, music video shoots and numerous performances."

As Village Underground is designed to be an example of environmentally friendly construction adhering to the strictest environmental standards, the energy efficiency provided by ROCKWOOL insulation is paramount for this most unusual development.