Burrell Foley Fischer’s restoration and remodelling of Hall for Cornwall, a Grade II* Listed 1350 seat theatre and Creative Hub in Truro, has been awarded Highly Commended at the Grand Finals of the 2022 LABC Building Excellence Awards.
Hall for Cornwall, including two Listed buildings, is a performing arts venue in Truro, housing the largest theatre in Cornwall along with a cultural hub. The new auditorium, named Cornwall Playhouse, is a beautiful and flexible open space on three tiered-levels, providing a new dynamic relationship between performer and audience and enabling the organisation to deliver their artistic vision. The auditorium is seen as an open space, sitting within the granite box of the original marketplace walls visible from within the theatre space.
The project has increased the theatre’s audience capacity and provides a more intimate atmosphere with improved sightlines and acoustics, whilst improving accessibility and conserving and restoring important heritage elements and bringing them into better use. The refurbished venue also provides a warmer welcome and improved audience experience, including new cafés and bar areas on both sides of the listed buildings and a space to change facility.
More than 850 leading construction industry figures attended the awards ceremony at the Westminster Park Plaza Hotel to celebrate best practice, quality, and exemplary standards in construction. The LABC Building Excellence Awards focus on professional skills and competence, as well as projects, with categories for ‘People’ and ‘Places.’
A panel of industry experts judged a selection of the highest quality projects, professionals, and teams from around England and Wales to showcase solutions to complex technical or construction issues, site constraints and technical innovation. The awards highlight the vital contribution public sector building control teams make as part of the project team, ensuring safe, sustainable, and high-quality construction projects.
Congratulating the whole team on their success, Lorna Stimpson, LABC Chief Executive said,
“These awards reflect LABC’s new focus on skills, quality and competency and showcase the best projects, people and teams working in construction from a technical compliance perspective.”