Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat.We have named the day and it is an exclusive for the blog.

The Bluecoat will re-open on March 15 2008.

This is a week before Easter so inside our goal of early ’08 (or by the end of March). It won’t be easy getting it ready by then but the discussions here were that we if we missed Easter we couldn’t open until into April and we needed to be open for the sake of ’08, its visitors and audience as well as for funders, our tenants and ourselves.

We have been working on the day for a while and meeting every week to look at the ‘risks’ that stand in the way of opening. Each week a few more a ticked off and now we feel they can all be overcome. On Monday there was paving on a boat from China, windows still in production and no gas for the kitchen. By tomorrow we will be cooking with gas and the delivery date for the windows will be nailed and the boat docked!

The date was an exclusive to the blog but only because the Daily Post has pulled the story which was to be attached to a glowing review of the building. It looks as if other ’08 stories have taken over as Phil Redmond’s Scouse wedding in Millennium House is getting a quickie divorce in prior to going down the aisle in the New Year.

Of course it is always good to do something to wrap up a year and all the staff at the Bluecoat got together yesterday to take stock as well as to contemplate the huge task ahead. Being closed it is hard to see from outside what has happened but as the new wing has risen from the ground the infrastructure of the new organisation has been built. In 2007, the Bluecoat has been re-branded, this website launched, an arts programme planned, tenants recruited, money raised, staff recruited and all along our participation programme has worked with people off site keeping our profile high.

Perhaps the most intense session was when we looked at ‘a day in the life of the Bluecoat’. It was very simple - unlock 7.30am, information desk opens 8.00am etc – but it seemed the very moment that the abstract became concrete. We followed that by planning our launch survival kit – clear communications, chocolate truffles and massages. I’ll get into training over Christmas.

Alastair Upton, Chief Executive at the Bluecoat.