The new venue for dance was designed by O’Donnell + Tuomey and is situated on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford as part of East Bank.
Sadler’s Wells East has been awarded the 2026 RIBA National Award for architecture it has been announced.
The awards, which have been presented since 1966, recognise the best of UK architecture and provide insight into the country’s design and social trends. Sadler’s Wells East is one of 32 winners from across a range of sectors, scales and building types from all four UK nations.
Talking about Sadler’s Wells East, the judging panel for the awards described the venue as a: “hugely confident new arts facility with a bold architectural design, that not only meets very exacting functional requirements, but successfully creates an icon here for local people.”
On news of the award, Britannia Morton, Executive Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadler’s Wells, said: “We are over the moon that our marvellous building Sadler’s Wells East has been recognised by RIBA for its architectural excellence. Congratulations to Sheila, John and their team at O’Donnell + Tuomey who responded to our brief of creating a purpose-built theatre specifically for dance wholeheartedly. With great ingenuity, they have created both a brilliantly functional building that supports the nation’s arts infrastructure and a beautifully designed space that is an inviting and welcoming space to experience dance. The building has been a revelation, particularly through its open foyers and its participatory spaces that continue to bring more people into the wonderful world of dance.”
Sadler’s Wells East originally opened in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in February 2025.The first public building to open as part of London’s newest cultural and educational district East Bank, it sits alongside BBC Music Studios, V&A East Museum, UAL’s London College of Fashion and UCL East. Billed as ‘a game changer for dance’ by Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Sadler’s Wells East is a space for seeing, creating, rehearsing and participating in the art form.
The building is home to a fully flexible 550-seat auditorium, six state-of-the-art dance studios, a restaurant a bar and The Dance Floor, a public performance space that hosts free lunchtime dance classes, workshops and activity for the local community.
It also home to two educational facilities: Academy Breakin’ Convention, a hip hop theatre school for talented 16–19-year-olds, which opened in September 2025 and offers the UK’s first free Level 3 Diploma in Performance and Production Arts specific to hip hop. The Rose Choreographic School is an experimental research project, which enables 13 dance artists to develop their own choreographic practice over a two-year course.
To date, Sadler’s Wells East has presented 50 productions in its auditorium. Over 6,600 people have taken part in free activity, workshops or lunchtime dance classes on The Dance Floor. Sadler’s Wells has created three brand new productions from scratch in house: the Black British Theatre Award-winning Our Mighty Groove, Quadrophenia: A Mod Ballet which went on tour the UK and to the USA for a run on Broadway, and Ebony Scrooge, a co-production with ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company. It has hosted the first ever Festival celebrating young dance, YFX Festival.
To find out more about what sadler’s Wells has got going on visit: https://www.sadlerswells.com/your-visit/sadlers-wells-east/welcome-to-sadlers-wells-east/