A multi-million pound dance studio hidden on an industrial estate is now open to students after several years in the making.

KentOnline was invited to take a look inside the the Jasmin Vardimon Company's new home, on the Henwood Industrial Estate in Ashford, which includes dance studios and a cafe.

While the official launch is not until December 7, the company welcomed its first cohort of dancers in October, with the building at last being used to train performers, create productions and expand its education programmes.

The new building in Javelin Way has an auditorium for productions, a training studio for students, a community studio, meeting rooms and the cafe - which was the first to launch.

Megan Saunders, head of creative learning at Jasmin Vardimon Company says it is nice to finally be using the space the company has been waiting so long for.

She said: "We've got three purpose-built dance studios.

"JV1 is our production space, JV2 is our training space, and JV3 is our community and classes space.

"JV1 has a very high level technical capacity for productions with lighting, projections, sound broadcast and it has a seating capacity of 144.

"Then JV2 is a training space, which also has the technical capacity, and that's really designated to our training program and talent development scheme.

"JV3 is our community and classes studio that local people can use for anything from a kid's creative dance class, to health and well-being sessions and pilates.

"We've slowly but surely been doing taster sessions and welcome events, but things really kick start on December 8 and 9 when we will be doing our full performances of Alice where we’ll open the doors to the public and local schools to give them a sense of the work we do here."

The new facility, funded by Kent County Council, Ashford Borough Council and the Arts Council England, is also the first of its kind in Kent making Ms Vardimon the only female choreographer in the UK to have her own specially designed studio outside London.

The building forms the centre of a major new arts hub in Ashford known as the Creative Enterprise Quarter which is surrounded by 26 commercial units.

It's hidden away around the back of the estate in a location which is also home to Kent Music, an education charity and lead partner for the Music Education Hub for Kent.

Ms Saunders added: "It's a real pleasure to be placed alongside other creative organisations that are operating and benefiting the people of Ashford.

"I also have come to really enjoy the idea of being on an industrial estate because it makes JV Home a place for the creative industries to thrive and flourish.

"I also love the fact that people are travelling from all over the world to come to Ashford to train.

"There are people from Japan and America that are coming to get involved and performers that we work with so there's something really nice about the local and the global coming together."

The cafe was the first part of the building to open to the public in September while renovations to the rest of the building were still being made.

The creative company has been running since 1998 but moved to Ashford 10 years ago having previously been split between Brighton and London.

It took residence at the Stour Centre in Station Approach but quickly realised demand meant the company would eventually need a bigger space.

The studio then became part of Ashford Borough Council's 'Big 8' projects – a series of major schemes including Elwick Place that the council spearheaded to regenerate the town.