Rehouse Arts Centre Stage Lighting, sound and engineering installation

Redhouse Arts Centre Exterior
Redhouse Arts Centre motorised hoists
Redhouse Arts Centre Stage Sound Control

Full stage lighting and engineering installation including stage tracks and drapes to arts centre

What is now Redhouse Arts Centre, Merthyr Tydfil was once an impressive late Victorian building. It was built in 1896 as the Town Hall, courthouse and home of the local government in a town booming during the industrial revolution. When the council moved to new buildings in the 1980’s the ‘Old Town Hall’ was used as a night club until 2002 and had fallen into disrepair since this time.

Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association saw the opportunity to restore the building as a vibrant arts centre serving the local community. They managed to secure £8m with funding from the Welsh government, Heritage Body Cadw, Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales and Merthyr Tydfil Council to restore and refurbish this Grade II* listed building with a focus on sustainability of the build and on-going running costs.

We worked for Graham Construction following Carr and Angier Theatre Consultant’s specification for a 120 seat theatre, dance studio, multi-purpose glazed auditorium and music/recording studios in Redhouse Arts Complex. Since September 2013, College Merthyr Tydfil has started to use some of the unusual spaces for drama, media, music and creative studies courses and the building officially open to the public on St David’s Day 2014.

For this project we:

  • Installed two bespoke trusses to the newly glass-roofed courtyard space supported by four self-climbing hoists, designed to fly over the audience without the need for secondary safety bonds. Hand-held controls for motorised hoists allow for flexible and easy to change lighting schemes to suit the space multi-functional uses.
  • Provided various internally wired bars, 72 channels of dimming, 22 channels of non-dimming.
  • Installed over 800 performance related tie lines for different systems including the recording studio suite in the basement.
  • Supplied and installed a Soundcraft Vi1 digital sound desk and a high-end Mayer acoustic sound system solution for the enhancement of performances while also giving the students the opportunity to upgrade to the digital platform from their current analogue system, which is available as productions require.
  • Designed, supplied and installed perimeter and stage tracks and drapes, a digital projector and screen and Infrared Induction loop systems, along with a bespoke stage management and communications system. This system is designed to allow full flexibility for performances while also allowing the three performance spaces to communicate with each other as performances require.
  • Supplied and commissioned various  intelligent lighting fixtures and LED lanterns to complement the existing equipment
  • College Merthyr Tydfil is currently using various items of legacy lighting hardware and control system.

For further information about this project visit:

http://www.cewales.org.uk/cew/wp-content/uploads/7245Exemplar-MTTHR-Exemplar-4pp-D.pdf

http://www.mtha.org.uk/old-town-hall/

Client: Graham Construction
Completion Date: September 2013
Approx Value: £350,000
Overall Schedule: 20 weeks