Project overview

The Royal Opera House’s ‘Open Up’ project, is a £50.7m refurbishment scheme.   The principle was to transform the public’s experience of the Royal Opera House at its Covent Garden home, making the building a more welcome space.

The client team were keen to appoint leading suppliers in all area’s to ensure the desired aesthetic of this high profile project. Therefore, to meet the unique needs of this venue, Hussey Seatway was contracted to design and manufacture a pioneering retractable system.

Solution

The retractable system installed features a bespoke ‘touchscreen’ electrical panel which allows the three units independently of each other.  So, this allows the venue to arrange the theatre in multiple ways to suit the staging of the production. So, we designed a fully travelling system with independent motors on each block with the brakes on each engaging automatically when not in travelling mode.  Steps made from real mahogany ensure a high-end finish.  The fascia is a matching mahogany veneer.  Controlled by the sound desk is DMX aisle lighting which is built into the steps.

In partnership with Race furniture who supplied the high-end Chavenage chairs we successfully completed the seating package on time and on budget.

Partnerships

Architect:  Stanton Williams

Theatre Consultant: Charcoal Blue

Building Contractor: Rise

Seats:  Race Furniture Chavenge Seats

Platform  Seatway TP

Images  © Hufton + Crow, 2018 and © Luke Hayes