Occupying eight floors at the base of a 36-story skyscraper in Silk Street next to the Barbican, on the site of an old fire station, the project's Foundation Donors, Heron International and the City of London, have contributed a total of £75.5m, with the remainder being covered via a public fundraising campaign.
Stage Electrics has been contracted to design and install the lighting systems, audio systems, distribution network, house and working light control, as well as a building-wide infrastructure for all technical theatrical elements. The School will house a new concert hall, drama theatre, studio theatre, TV studio and rehearsal rooms.
The construction company is Sir Robert McAlpine, theatre consultants are Theatre Projects Consultants and the architects are Arts Team, a division of Renton Howard Wood Levin, working to an original concept design by David Walker architects.
"The venues are absolutely state of the art," comments Stage Electrics project manager Darren Beckley. "It's a very high specification project and is on the scale of the installation we completed at the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre last year.
"The tender process has been going on since 2008 and now that it's been awarded we'll be starting on site this month. It's an exciting project to be working on, and we're also very pleased to be working with Theatre Projects."
(Jim Evans)
