ALDRIDGE based Shaylor Construction has secured a prestigious £7.1m contract to build a new Performing Arts Centre in Birmingham.
The new centre will serve leading independent schools King Edward’s School, Birmingham and its sister school, King Edward VI High School for Girls. The building will be located on the existing Edgbaston campus.
The Performing Arts Centre will provide a concert hall to seat an audience of 400 and a performance space to accommodate an orchestra of 90. In addition, there is a separate drama studio that will seat 125, and a wide variety of rooms for teaching and rehearsal.
Shaylor said the new facility would massively enhance performance arts opportunities for pupils from both schools.
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The Performing Arts Centre will carry the name of Paul and Jill Ruddock. Paul is a former pupil of King Edward’s School and his very substantial donation made the whole project possible.
Plans for the Performing Arts Centre have evolved over the last two years involving numerous interested parties including English Heritage and other local conservation groups. The concentration on quality, form and function is evident in the final approved scheme.
Shaylor said the aesthetic impact of the building was paramount to both the client and planning committee and it was imperative that any final design should fit with the existing buildings. The internal space and the building’s acoustic qualities were also key considerations.
Competitive tenders were returned in May of this year and Shaylor Group was awarded the contract, convincing the schools that they had the capacity to deliver the building to the exact designs and quality expected, within the allocated time period and all within the client’s agreed budget.
Detailed design development is currently under way and work on site is due to start next month, with completion scheduled for early 2012.
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