ARTS students occupied one of London’s most prestigious galleries yesterday after university management announced plans to sell the site to luxury property developers.

Students at The Cass architecture design and art school took over the institute’s Bank Gallery in Whitechapel with the enthusiastic support of artists Bob and Roberta Smith, Mandy Shadow and Artist Taxi Driver.

They demanded the immediate halt of the building’s sale, which they labelled a “disgrace.”

Staff and students at the London Metropolitan University, which owns The Cass, had already warned of lack of space in the existing sites, including at its main campus on Holloway Road.

Student occupier Barbara Ntumy said: “London Met once again finds itself at the sharp end of the Tory government’s cuts agenda.

“Shamefully, the university management of London Met, rather than stand up for students and staff and make the case of proper, adequate funding for our university, is being a cheerleader for brutal, excessive cuts.”

The student occupation is supported by lecturers’ union UCU and staff union Unison branches at the university, which held a solidarity demonstration on Wednesday afternoon.

A university spokesman told the Star the Met was investing £125 million on a new building for The Cass near the main campus.

“We appreciate that some students are concerned about the move, but we’d like to reassure them that The Cass is not closing, nor will its making ethos or successful studio model of teaching be lost,” he said.

Occupiers said they had received a letter from university management, but that their demands had not been addressed.