The Brindley
 Exterior view of the entrance to The Brindley | |
 | |
| Address | High Street, Runcorn WA7 1BG |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 53°20′26″N 2°43′53″W / 53.3406°N 2.7315°W |
| Owner | Halton Borough Council |
| Type | Theatre |
| Capacity | 420 theatre / 108 studio |
| Construction | |
| Opened | September 2004 |
| Architect | John Miller and Partners |
| Structural engineer | Dewhurst Macfarlane & Partners |
| Services engineer | SVM |
| Main contractors | G&J Sedden |
| Website | |
| thebrindley | |
The Brindley is a theatre in the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. Located by the Bridgewater Canal, the centre is named after the canal's engineer, James Brindley. It opened in autumn 2004; the architects were John Miller and Partners.[1] The building is owned and operated by Halton Borough Council.[2]
Design and construction[edit]
Halton Borough Council were concerned about the building's impact on the environment and about its energy requirements. Therefore "low energy, high efficiency techniques" were used in its construction.[3] These include a TermoDeck slab system, a storage technique for controlling the environment within large and medium-sized buildings using hollow cores within pre-cast concrete floor slabs as ventilation ducts.[4]
Facilities[edit]
The venue consists of a 420-seat main auditorium playing host to touring productions, a professional pantomime each Christmas season, local amateur shows and in-house productions, a 108-seat studio which also serves as a single screen cinema, an exhibition and gallery space, an education room, a dark room, a digital imaging room, dressing rooms, a meeting room, a bar and a café overlooking the Bridgewater Canal.[2]
Awards[edit]
The centre has won several awards for its architecture: The Centre Vision Award from The Civic Trust in 2005,[1] the Excellence in Access award from the ADAPT Trust (Access for Disabled People to Arts Premises Today), and the Architectural Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.[5] RIBA praised the building for fitting into its context, using the canal-side location to give views, and making good use of its budget.[6] It also won the Open Award for Technical Excellence in Architectural Technology 2008.[7]
For its community activities, The Brindley won the title Best Arts Project in the UK at The National Lottery Awards in 2007.[8] In May 2008, the theatre won the Best Performance Venue Award at the Mersey Partnership Tourism Awards 2008.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Special Award: Centre Vision Award, The Civic Trust, archived from the original on 19 June 2007, retrieved 29 September 2007
- ^ a b About us, Halton Borough Council, retrieved 23 December 2017
- ^ Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn, SVM Consulting Engineers, retrieved 16 January 2009
- ^ Barton, P.; Beggs, C. B.; Sleigh, P. A. (September 2002), A theoretical study of the thermal performance of the TermoDeck hollow core slab system, Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 22:13, pp. 1485–1499, archived from the original on 10 September 2012, retrieved 16 January 2009
- ^ a b The Brindley: News, Halton Borough Council, archived from the original on 4 November 2007, retrieved 29 September 2007
- ^ The Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn Archived 2009-11-23 at the Wayback Machine, RIBA, retrieved on 16 January 2009
- ^ Glynn, Paul (20 August 2009), "Brindley Arts Centre receives Open Award for Technical Excellence in Architectural Technology 2008", Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News, Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales, retrieved 20 August 2009
- ^ Breslin, Holly (20 September 2007), "We did it!", Runcorn Weekly News, Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited, retrieved 29 September 2007
External links[edit]
- The Brindley Arts Centre (RIBA) (with photograph from the canal side)