A specialist provision for students aged 16-19 from across the North of England, CAPA College provides full-time training and education in all aspects of creative and performing arts from dance and drama to musical theatre, production arts, film and media.

The ground-breaking College is already home to 250 of the country’s most talented young performers; with CAPA College graduates going on to become recognisable TV stars, West End performers and Hollywood actors.

The multi-million-pound facility houses a 150-seat theatre, 10 recording studios, dance studios, drama workshops, video/photo studio, a multimedia tech suite and an outdoor amphitheatre.

Drama by Design were involved with the project from feasibility study through to completion. We worked with the architects Race Cottam on the design of the building and designed all the specialist technical systems.

The main theatre features a tension wire grid over the whole area, with internally wired lighting bars above. Infrastructure is designed around utilising LED luminaires with sequential power and DMX distribution. A flown loudspeaker system covers the seating area and has control and input plates providing cable and Bluetooth connectivity to enable the space to be easily used for teaching. Paging and show relay is provided to the front of house and back stage areas with an intercom system for the technical staff. There is a rear stage curtain track, side masking curtains on tracks and an electrically retractable seating system.

The drama studios are equipped with overhead internally wired lighting grids and low level power outlets all fed from an intelligent power distribution system. Low and high level facility panels enable audio, video and communications equipment to be connected in the studios. A perimeter curtain track enables the spaces to be transformed from a white teaching space to a black box studio and leg curtains enable wings to be created.

The video/photo studio features a motorised truss with internally wired bars enabling it to be lowered to the floor for easy and safe rigging. Facility panels enable equipment in the studio to be controlled from the control room.

All studios have active loudspeakers to enable music to be played. The loudspeaker system is centrally controlled with local control and input plates for connecting mobile devices via cable or Bluetooth.

Drama by Design worked with the main contractor to deliver the project effectively to include testing and commissioning on completion.