Theatre Consultancy for George Wood Theatre, Goldsmiths’ University of London heritage theatre refurbishment project

The renovation of the George Wood Theatre transformed a Grade II-listed 19th Century chapel into a contemporary, flexible performance and creative space for the College. Originally converted to a theatre in the 1960s, the building required modernisation to meet the demands of 21st-century teaching and performance. The project created a main flexible theatre with seating for up to 200 people and two new studio spaces, providing versatile facilities for teaching, rehearsal, and performance.

Drama by Design provided theatre and AV consultancy throughout the project, designing specialist systems to enhance functionality, flexibility, and audience experience while respecting the historic character of the building. The auditorium was converted into a flexible theatre, and the former stage was reconfigured into black and white studios stacked vertically, providing two distinct creative spaces within the existing structure.

A custom-designed tension wire grid was installed in the main theatre, carefully engineered so as not to touch the original walls, preserving views of the chapel’s historic windows. An octagonal opening at the centre of the grid mirrors the shape of the original roof turret, and one of the original stage winches was reinstalled to allow props and scenery to be lowered through the centre. The grid incorporates integrated bars to support speakers, projectors, and stage lighting, with additional perimeter bars for conventional stage lighting.

The theatre’s lighting system combines reinstalled legacy dimmers with a new computer-controlled system featuring LED luminaires. A new LED house lighting system complements the stage lighting, and a stage manager’s desk with full AV integration supports both teaching and performance requirements. Seating is highly adaptable, consisting of a main electrically retractable block and two additional retractable blocks mounted on hydraulic trucks, allowing multiple configurations to suit different events and audience sizes.

The Black Studio was equipped with an internally wired lighting grid, perimeter curtain track, and a full AV system controlled via a touch panel, creating a fully functional production studio. The White Studio serves as a rehearsal and creative space, featuring a basic AV setup with speakers and projector, suitable for teaching, workshops, and smaller-scale presentations.

Through careful design and integration of theatre and AV systems, Drama by Design helped deliver a versatile, modern performance hub that retains the historic character of the Grade II-listed chapel while providing professional-standard facilities for students, staff, and visiting performers.

Goldsmi

Theatre Consultancy for Wells Maltings heritage theatre refurbishment project

Wells-next-the-Sea, a small coastal town in North Norfolk, experiences a dramatic increase in population during the summer months. After years of planning, fundraising, and community engagement, a major extension and refurbishment programme began in 2016 to transform the Grade II listed building into a modern cultural hub for the town and surrounding area.

Drama by Design was appointed as theatre consultants, working closely with the design team to create a technically sophisticated performance space while respecting the building’s historic fabric. Our role included the design of all specialist theatre systems, ensuring the venue could support a wide range of uses including live performance, cinema screenings, and community events.

The theatre lighting system was designed entirely with LED fixtures to provide flexibility, energy efficiency, and high-quality performance. A variety of Chauvet fixtures, including spots and fresnels, were integrated alongside ETC Cyc Floods. All lighting is flown from bars suspended from the restored wooden beams of the maltings roof, using custom-made clamps that fit around the beams without penetrating or damaging the listed structure.

Two distinct audio systems were installed to meet the differing needs of cinema and live performance. A QSC speaker system was provided for cinema presentations, while an LD System Stinger system supports live theatre performances. An Allen & Heath QU24 console, connected via category cabling to remote I/O boxes, allows complete operational flexibility, enabling the console to be positioned anywhere within the space as needed.

The venue is equipped with a full DCI-compliant cinema system, featuring a Barco Alchemy projector fed from a Lansat satellite delivery system. The cinema system can also be used for theatre performances or presentations via HDMI inputs located throughout the theatre. An electric roller projection screen mounted on a winch allows projection height to be adjusted to suit the performance or presentation.

All specialist systems — including theatre and cinema AV, houselights, and control interfaces — are managed via an Extron touch panel. This allows quick, intuitive operation and rapid reconfiguration of lighting, audio, and video systems to accommodate different performance types and audience requirements.

Through careful design, close collaboration with the project team, and a focus on integrating modern technical capabilities within a historic structure, Drama by Design helped deliver a versatile, professional-standard theatre that serves as a cultural focal point for Wells-next-the-Sea and the wider community.

Theatre and Studio Consultancy for The Manchester College new build theatre and studio spaces

Located in the heart of Manchester city centre, City Campus Manchester opened in summer 2022 as a landmark creative and digital industries facility. Designed to provide state-of-the-art, industry-standard environments, the campus brings together performance, production and teaching spaces under one roof. It is home to the College’s Industry Excellence Academy for Creative and Digital Industries, as well as UCEN Manchester’s Arden School of Theatre and Manchester Film School.

Drama by Design was appointed as Theatre and Studio Consultants from feasibility stage through to project completion. Working closely with architects Bond Bryan and the wider design team, we developed the specialist technical strategies and designed all theatre, studio and performance systems throughout the building. Our role was to ensure that every space met professional industry expectations while remaining flexible, robust and appropriate for an educational environment.

At the heart of the building is the main theatre, designed to support teaching, public performance, assemblies and conference use. The theatre features a full-area tension wire grid, providing safe and flexible access for lighting and technical work, alongside two fly bars at the rear of the stage for backdrops. The lighting and infrastructure strategy was developed around LED luminaires, with sequential power and DMX distribution to maximise efficiency and adaptability. The space is equipped with front, mid and rear stage curtain tracks, side masking curtains on tracks, and an electrically retractable seating system to allow rapid reconfiguration. Integrated AV systems enable straightforward operation for film screenings, presentations and large-scale events.

Complementing the main theatre is a highly flexible black box studio theatre. This space incorporates a conventional internally wired barrel grid with perimeter curtain tracking, allowing multiple staging formats and experimental performance layouts. Both theatre spaces benefit from a comprehensive facility panel infrastructure, providing distributed access to audio, video and communications signals to support diverse teaching and production requirements.

The campus also includes two film studios and a dedicated TV studio, designed to professional standards to support Manchester Film School. These spaces integrate lighting, power and signal distribution systems that enable high-quality production while remaining adaptable for future technological developments.

Music facilities are provided for both Further Education and Higher Education programmes. Each suite comprises a series of music practice and recording rooms linked to control rooms, enabling multitrack recording and production. Integrated camera systems allow monitoring between spaces, supporting both supervision and recording workflows. The design ensures acoustic separation, technical reliability and ease of operation for students developing industry-relevant skills.

On the top floor, a range of singing, dance and drama studios provide flexible rehearsal and teaching environments. Some studios are equipped with active loudspeakers for music playback, while others incorporate full performance infrastructure including lighting grids, facility panels and sound systems. The building-wide loudspeaker system is centrally controlled but allows local input and level control, with connection plates enabling wired or Bluetooth connection of mobile devices for teaching and rehearsal use.

Communications systems throughout the campus were carefully coordinated to support operational efficiency and professional standards. These include front-of-house and backstage paging, show relay systems for the theatres, intercom systems serving theatre and music suites, and induction loop assisted listening systems to ensure accessibility and inclusivity.

Drama by Design worked closely with the main contractor during construction, overseeing the implementation of specialist systems and providing testing and commissioning services upon completion. Our continued involvement through to handover ensured that all systems were fully integrated, correctly configured and performing as intended.

City Campus Manchester now provides a cohesive, future-ready creative hub where theatre, film, music and digital production coexist within a single, technically sophisticated environment. Through early engagement, detailed system design and close collaboration with the design and construction teams, Drama by Design helped deliver a facility that reflects industry standards while supporting the next generation of creative professionals.

Theatre Consultancy for Reading Rep theatre heritage project.

Reading Rep combines high-class productions with ground-breaking education and community engagement. Working with new directors, new playwrights and new practitioners, they present productions from classics to new writing, revivals to musicals; producing outstanding shows of world class for the widest possible audience.

Drama by Design worked with Reading Rep to provide a coordinated design for all the theatre technical systems and to project manage the works through to completion for their new home in Reading.

The proposed use of the building is wide ranging. Reading Rep itself puts on some technically demanding productions so the lighting, sound and AV systems had to be flexible to support innovation. The space is also used for local youth theatre and by the local College. In addition the space was designed so that it can be used during the day for conferences and events to maximise revenue streams.

Sustainability was a key consideration throughout the project. It felt inappropriate to open a new venue with outdated equipment. Wherever possible new equipment was purchased to ensure the venue leads from the front and is working with the newest and most sustainable solutions.

The installation consists of ETC ColorSource dimmers with Prolights and Strand LED luminaires controlled from an ETC Ion control desk. The audio system consists of Martin Audio Blackline speakers and Crown amplifiers driven from an Allen and Heath digital mixing console enabling control from anywhere in the space via a network connection or App.

There is a comprehensive facility panel infrastructure in the main theatre and studio/rehearsal space, show relay and paging backstage and front of house and an Extron AV control system.