THE Bluecoat chief executive, Alastair Upton, is leaving the arts centre after five years to lead a regeneration charity in Kent.

Upton, who oversaw the £14.5m regeneration and reopening of Liverpool’s oldest city centre building, will depart in December.

The search is already on for his replacement, who will help plan the centre’s 300th anniversary celebrations in 2017.

Upton said he will always remember his time at The Bluecoat.

He said: “It has been an immense honour to have worked there, an experience I will always cherish, and it has been a privilege to have had such a strong board and a group of wonderful staff as colleagues.”

During the outgoing chief executive’s reign, The Bluecoat has gone through one of its most important phases since opening as an arts centre almost 100 years ago.

The Grade I-listed building reopened in Liverpool’s 2008 Capital of Culture year after a £14.5m re-development by Rotterdam- based architects BIQ Architecten.

It included the restoration of damage caused during World War II and the creation of a new restaurant.