Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre
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The free standing canopied drum houses the excape stair
Allan Forbes (website) Download Original
Renovation of a Grade II listed redundant Gothic church building in Scottish Boarders to create an arts centre
The project accommodates a 250 seat auditorium, with a rehearsal room, doubling as an exhibition space, a green room, changing rooms for artists, a small catering facility with cafe/bar and offices.
The Gothic exterior facade remains virtually untouched, while the side elevation was completely removed and substituted by a completely new transparent entrance elevation displaying the theatre within. This new facade gives the development an external presence, rather than hiding the theatre in the shell of the historic building, creating an understandable, developing history.
The auditorium box is externally clad in ply and emerges in the foyer and on circulation. Internally the theatre sits at first floor and is broadly proscenium with a degree of flexibility.
The route to the theatre is visible through the facade and a freestanding, canopied drum houses the escape stairs with large doors which open onto a platform lift.
Data
- Begun: Sep 2002
- Completed: Mar 2004
- Floor area: 839m2
- Sector: Arts and culture
- Total cost: £2.1M
- Funding: National Lottery £1.6 million; European Union £300,000; donations from Scottish Arts Council, Scottish Enterprise Borders, Scottish Borders Council
- Tender date: Mar 2002
- Procurement: Scottish Building Contract, Contractors Design Portion with Quantities
- Address: Eastgate Theatre & Arts Centre, Eastgate, Peebles, EH45 8AD, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Richard Murphy Architects
- Project architects: David Morris, James Taylor, Matthew Bremner, Patrick Fallis, Peter Gutherie, Richard Murphy, Tim Bayman
- Client: Borders 1996 Company
- Structural engineer: Wardell Armstrong Laird Menzies
- Quantity surveyor: Ross and Morton
- Services engineer: Fulcrum Consulting/ WW
- Acoustics: Sandy Brown Associates
- Theatre consultant: John Stone
- Planning Supervisor : Ross and Morton
- Main contractor: Reywood Construction
Suppliers
- Structural steelwork: Had-Fab
- Precast concrete: Hillhouse precast
- Balustrades and canopy: Abel Engineering
- Ply panelling : Wilhelmi UK
- Acoustic flooring system: Instacoustic
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