Upon the recent completion of a major alteration and refurbishment project, Rolton Group are extremely pleased that Theatre Royal, Drury Lane has recently re-opened to the public.
Now boasting the biggest stage in London, the official re-opening of the Grade I listed building took place in June with the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles and Camilla.
The project itself saw the restoration of this historic theatre to its former glory, with new stage facilities, dressing rooms, bars and restaurants. The auditorium has also been transformed into a more comfortable and intimate space where producers now have the choice of a traditional proscenium arch or in-the-round configuration.
Due to previous success as part of the team that worked on the refurbishment and Open Up project works at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, Rolton Group was appointed by long-standing client, Playfords Ltd to support the scheme, which is the largest programme of works recently undertaken at Theatre Royal and required the theatre to close for this first time in recent history.
Rolton Group provided survey work, laser scanning of the existing architecture, building fabric and services to create an existing 3D model for use in Revit MEP, full MEP technical design coordination services in 3D for the refurbishment, ensuring an efficient use of space for all building services within the confines of the existing structure as the project developed.
Working within an existing building of significant age posed a number of challenges when developing the mechanical and electrical services routing throughout. Using the detailed 3D coordination and even virtual reality, many tight spaces were concept proven prior to installation and disruption to the building fabric in this grade listed building, which required over 500 builder’s work penetrations.
Now complete, the theatre looks absolutely stunning and began welcoming guests in August, 2021 for the production of Disney’s Frozen.
©Philip Vile
Rolton have steadily developed our work and commitment to the North East region over the last few years through our Newcastle office and we were pleased to move our team to a new city central location in 2024. We are therefore delighted to reinforce this commitment by joining the NewcastleGateshead Initiative as a Corporate Partner for 2025.
As we approach the end of the year and the holidays, we reflect on a year full of expansion and growth and look forward to 2025.
With more than 44 years of Rolton this year has seen us developing our business internally and externally, strengthening the board, refreshing the brand, expanding the office network and sharing our thought leadership.
Rolton is proud to become a member of More Than a Building, an extraordinary network of architects, developers, engineers, contractors and others from the construction sector who are creating better futures around the world, in partnership with charity Article 25.