Starting Up Again

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It has been a good while since my last post. In line with government guidance the construction site was forced to close in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic crisis unfolded.

Although very little has happened physically on site, there have been a lot of Zoom meetings and emails and drawings flying back and forth. We have been meeting regularly with our project manager, architects, consultants and the contractors online to finalise construction drawings and information to make us as prepared as we can be for the re-start.

Three months have passed and we can finally get back on site and start things up again. I thought it would be good to talk about what is happening as we open back up and where we got to before lock-down.

The original theatre building surrounded by the piling mat ready for the construction of the new build elements

Covid-19 Planning

Our main contractor, Kier, has been busy adapting its working practices and in recent weeks has prepared the site for safe working in accordance with the latest Government guidelines.

For now, only work that can be carried out in a way that allows for social distancing at 2m can go ahead. All staff that can work from home are remaining there for the time being and numbers will be quite limited on site, at least to begin with.

One way system with 2m distance marks and new outdoor briefing area.

All general working areas are marked up for two metre social distancing to help people adhere to the rules that are in place for this Phase of lock-down. Outdoor areas have been set up for breaks and team briefings. Pathways have been widened where possible, and where not, new routes in and out of the building and a one-way system have been implemented to minimise any potential bottle-necks. Turnstiles and gates have been removed and warning notices and hand sanitisers are spread throughout the site.

One of the many information boards around the site

Before they can return to site, all staff, visitors and sub-contractors have to be re-inducted to make them aware of the new working practices and procedures. Kier will continue to review Scottish Government guidance and adhere to public health and social distancing guidelines.

All this makes the job challenging and complex but is absolutely critical as the health, safety and well-being of the people working on site is paramount.

Where Are We Now?

By the time of the lock-down we had just about completed the external demolition on site and prepared it for the new building work to start.

Historic auditorium and stage-house surrounded by piling mat for the new building work

Around the historic auditorium, buildings were demolished and the area flattened out and filled with ballast to created a piling mat. This will support the new structures going in, including the new foyer, cafe, bars and studio theatre as well as learning and rehearsal spaces.

At the time of the last update on external demolition we still had old basement areas that needed clearing and a substantial concrete slab in front of the old auditorium. This slab turned out to be much thicker than historic drawings had led us to believe and there were a multitude of piles in places that we were not expecting either.

Auditorium gable wall on the left – Demolition work on the thick concrete slab above the old basement
More than the 200mm thick we were expecting!

In the photo above on the left you can just make out an arch of one of the two tunnels that used to extend under the front of the building. They were demolished as part of the 1988 development, but they had various uses over the years including a bowling alley and a shooting gallery.

Plans from 1948. You can see the two tunnels in the basement in the bottom left of the plan and you can just make out the arches below the slab in the image top left (labelled miniature rifle range)

Before the slab could be taken out it had to be cut up using an enormous circular saw to make the pieces more managable. The existing buildings also had to be structurally stabilised to ensure they could cope with any disturbance the the slab removal might cause. This included bricking up old openings, bracing others and work to the neighbouring building to compensate for poor brickwork.

  • Circular saw – normally used for sawing up roads
  • Bricking up one of the entrances at the side of the auditorium.
  • Temporary bracing starting to go in

In the next photograph the slab has been successfully demolished and the project team are stood where the basement area was under the old offices. To their right you can see one of the many piles that needed removing looking a bit like an un-exploded bomb sticking up out of the ground.

The project team standing in the old basement space (standing close to each another in a pre-Covid environment!)

Everything was filled in, leveled out and compacted down. You can see in the picture with the two arched doorways in mid-air there is a significant change in height compared to the old slab. The doorways will be cut down to become taller so that the entrance to the auditorium will be the same as street level improving accessibility by negating the need for stairs and ramps throughout the new foyer.

Auditorium doorways above the new piling mat (vibration monitor on the wall in between them)

These stone arches above the doors are an absolute gift and totally unexpected having been previously boxed in with wood and plasterboard. Since their discovery the architects have worked them into new design for the foyer which I will look at in more detail in a future post.

Auditorium gable wall – bracing or brick in all vulnerable openings

Inside the auditorium, on the other side of this wall we had just started on the internal strip out as we went into lock-down.

In the ground floor of the auditorium looking back at the entrances standing from where the old director’s box used to be. The smaller original control box now stands alone within the space ready to be taken away as work restarts..
View from the where the door used to be at the back of the auditorium. Main entrance doors on the left. On the right, looking through where the old directors box was at the rest of the auditorium towards the stage.

In the previous picture you can see how the room slopes up from the main entrance doors and then back down to back of where the seats used to be, a few metres in front of the remaining bit of the control room. In the new design, you will come into the auditorium through the main doors at a much lower level and then rise uphill to the back of the seats. This is what enables us to level out the front-of-house areas.

Old venue layout with steps in foyer
New venue design – no steps in foyer or stalls auditorium
  • Entrances and boxes – Proposed design
  • Entrance and boxes – Old layout
New vs Old layouts for stalls auditorium entrance and boxes.

The new design makes better use of space and features a new central control room for lighting and sound, with a dedicated audio description booth. There are also flat level areas with good views on either side of the control room that are well suited to wheelchair users.

What’s next?

Now that that our contractors and its local supply chain are back on site, work can resume, picking up where we left off.

Activity will continue in the auditorium to remove the old floors, for a new ventilation and heating system that is going in, as well as changing the format and levels at the back.

We have one major piece of external demolition to complete to remove the derelict building at the rear of the site. The temporary works required to ensure the safety of the historic paint frame adjacent have been significant and I will take a look at this area in a future post.

Derelict building surrounded by scaffolding ready for demolition

Inside the building we will also start some of the more significant internal alterations in back of house, such as forming new structural openings and making progress in the stage area.

The Coronavirus pandemic has caused a significant delay and progress back on site might be slower than we had originally anticipated, but it is extremely heartening to finally get work underway again.