Case studies

The Royal Albert Hall, London

Client: The Royal Albert Hall, London - The Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Science.

Service provided: project and design management and cost consultancy

Brief:

Refurbishment of The Royal Albert Hall - including lottery funding application, determining procurement and phasing strategy with minimal disruption to the Grade 1 listed building, whilst Hall remained fully operational.

Programme:

The refurbishment of The Royal Albert Hall was given impetus by a £40million grant of National Lottery money from the Arts Council and the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

• The project was made up of 40 individual new build and refurbishment contracts. These were phased over a nine-year period whilst the Hall remained fully operational. A major achievement for the design team. We successfully integrated the Hall's programme of events with the ongoing construction works. For example, the whole of the 'Stalls' area was re-seated during a three week gap in the Hall's programme by working a 24-hour day throughout.
• The terraces and gardens south of the Hall were reconstructed to create a deep underground service yard, which is entered off Prince Consort Road, giving direct access to the stage, kitchens and dressing rooms in the basement. The basement also houses extensive engineering services plant and equipment that serve the auditorium ventilation system, restaurant, kitchen and toilet facilities.
• A new 3-level basement car park for the Hall staff, customers and neighbouring residents formed part of the basement accommodation.

Innovation:

One of the more complex projects involved tunnelling and major plant installation for the provision of a ventilation system, this improved:

• Conditions for the audience both within the auditorium itself and throughout the foyers;
• a major upgrade of accommodation backstage for artists and staff; and
• enhanced the setting of the building and the public spaces around it.

The engineering services were a major hurdle to deal with in the refurbishment of the Hall. Unlike the discrete projects, the services run through all areas of the building and co-ordinating the procurement of the services to suit the refurbishment of individual areas proved to be a significant challenge. By way of example, the original electrical distribution followed a horizontal route at each floor. To remove the unsightly cabling from the corridors a vertical distribution from the basement was installed. This allowed changeovers to take place as works progressed on an area by area basis.

Performance and audience income provided Partnership Funding in support of lottery grants and the project is upheld as a 'model' project by both Arts and Heritage funding bodies. The project also received the 'Civic Trust Award' - the largest and most comprehensive environmental design awards scheme in Europe.

Background:

The Royal Albert Hall has a long and rich history as one of the world's leading entertaining venues. Since its opening concert in 1871 over 150,000 performances have taken place inside the Auditorium.

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