The Old Vic Theatre in London has been undergoing work to provide new arts and entertainment space, giving our air testing team a unique opportunity to peer behind the curtain of this iconic landmark building. They have been providing air permeability advise and consultancy on site to help deliver a more sustainable outcome for the building and the team at Rise Contracts.
The Old Vic was built on former marshland, with its foundation stone laid in September 1816 by the Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales. Designed by Rudolph Cabanel of Aachen, the brick and rendered facade building has been remodelled repeatedly — most notably by Jethro T. Robinson in 1871, whose auditorium redesign remains one of his most accomplished surviving interiors, and by Renton, Howard, Wood and Levine in 1983, who reinstated the facade from historical engravings.
More recently, Haworth Tompkins completed Backstage at The Old Vic, a contemporary extension that serves as a strong demonstration of modern low-carbon construction. The structure is primarily composed of low-embodied-carbon European spruce glulam timber and solid timber floors, engineered for disassembly and reuse at end of life, with natural ventilation, air source heat pumps and passive cooling strategies dramatically reducing operational energy demand. The façade is veiled in hundreds of reclaimed barn-door lighting shutters, once clamped to theatre lanterns across the UK, now refashioned as a brise-soleil. The back-of-house remodelling was completed over 12 months and the new-build extension over 22 months, both delivered by Rise Contracts working closely with specialist fabricators and craftsmen.
