National Theatre

We were approached by the National Theatre as they were undergoing a refurbishment to a large part of the theatre. They needed to provide disabled access throughout the building, unfortunately they couldn't make space for a conventional passenger lift due to the building's Grade II listing. The National Theatre is situated on the Southbank of the Thames and holds a host of productions from Shakespeare to more contemporary plays.

Working with Lendlease, the construction management business, we designed and fitted a lift with automatic doors on adjacent sides. The lift travelled a distance of 12 metres across four floors, with entry points on two of the four sides of the lift shaft. The client had strict criteria that the lift had to meet due to the building's Grade II listing. The ceiling of lift had to be anodised bronze to match the theatre's ceiling that had originally been installed in 1976. In order to match this requirement we used the same anodising company that had originally constructed the theatre's ceiling. We also replicated the handrail from the landings inside the lift car and used the same materials to create a handrail that is identical to those in the theatre. We completed the lift with the same flooring as the rest of the theatre, with the original carpet from 1971 being used in the lift car.  The rest of the lift was finished in stainless steel to contrast the wooden panelling and one of the interior sides was fitted with a complete floor to ceiling mirror.  Even with the high specification of the lift, it was fitted within 4 weeks.

Location: Central London

Status: Complete

Year Completed: 2013

To see projects similar to National Theatre click on the following links:

The British Library | The Wool House | York Theatre Royal | The Base at Greenham | Meriden Hall |  Branksome Park | Powys | Whitecliff | Bosham

Disabled access lift at the National Theatre
Passenger Lift Interior at the National Theatre
Lift at the National Theatre

For more information about lifts for theatre and stage call us on 0800 65 252 65 or email us

Posted in Commercial Buildings, Historic & Listed Buildings, News, Projects, Theatre & Stage and tagged , .

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