Founded in 1936 by economist John Maynard Keynes, The Arts Theatre, Cambridge, is a 664-seat venue presenting a varied calendar of shows including drama, dance, opera and pantomime, both touring productions and shows travelling directly to and from the West End. A major refurbishment provided Push The Button with the opportunity to carry out a comprehensive technical overhaul of the building’s lighting, AV, stage engineering and public address and voice evacuation systems.
The starting point, as described by Project Manager Gareth Williams, was “a venue where technical systems were in desperate need of modernisation.” The original brief covered house lighting, production lighting, stage engineering, AV infrastructure and a dimmer room upgrade. As the project progressed it also encompassed an inverter replacement, a full PAVA installation and stage engineering works.
Designed by Charcoalblue, the project saw a unique departure from the standard division of responsibilities. Push The Button were contracted directly to the builder to deliver all of the Stage Engineering, Stage Lighting and Audio Visual Package alongside the Electrical works to accompany it. This approach gave the builder, Cocksedge Building Contractors, a single specialist contractor who could undertake all of the works in the Theatre and guarantee that it could be delivered in the limited closure period afforded.
Throughout the auditorium, every light fitting, cable run and control point was removed and replaced. The replacement house lighting is based on Lucent LED fittings, driven by ETC F-Drive networked architectural dimming. Control of the lighting throughout the building is now via ETC Paradigm, operated from around twenty ETC Heritage Control Stations. Fixed and portable touchscreens were installed, allowing scenes to be saved and recalled with ease, giving staff a single control platform to manage their lighting.
Safety systems also came under the scope of the project, with an Eaton inverter fitted to provide a minimum of three hours of backup power for the emergency lighting system, replacing a unit that had reached the end of its serviceable life. A non-compliant PAVA system was replaced with Bosch amplification equipment, bringing the venue fully in line with safety requirements.
The white working lights were replaced throughout the building with LED fittings and the blue working lights were replaced with ETC BluesSystem dimmable BlueSystem to provide safe, low-level illumination in key areas during productions. All of the working lights are controlled via the same ETC Paradigm network, ensuring a unified and consistent approach to lighting control for the staff to manage the venue.
Stage engineering work centred on the venue’s split stage. PTB rewired the existing motors, installed encoders and upgraded the safe edge system, bringing the stage machinery up to a safe and operational standard.
The dimmer room was completely re-worked with new mains panel boards, re-wiring the existing sensor dimmers and installing a new production lighting equipment rack for the new production lighting network infrastructure. Audio Visual was sited in a separate rack room below the control room and an entirely new audio visual infrastructure was installed. One of the biggest challenges was tying the two locations together with containment needing to pass through the circle into the ceiling in a bespoke solution devised by PTB. All containment was hand finished onsite including the bespoke bends and curves required to facilitate the services on the circle front.
New facility panels were delivered throughout the venue and new temporary mains panels on stage. The refurbishment leaves The Arts Theatre with modern technical infrastructure throughout the building, while preserving the character that audiences and visiting productions know well.
Reflecting on the project, Gareth said: “The Arts is a fantastic venue with a real warmth to it. To hand it back to the team in the shape it’s now in, in the limited time available, is testament to the hard work of the entire project team and something we can all be proud of”.