Citizens Theatre
King's Theatre in Edinburgh reopens following transformative restoration
The King's Theatre, a much loved and long-standing venue of the Edinburgh International Festival, has reopened following a large-scale restoration and full technical refurbishment.
Built in 1906, this iconic cultural landmark has been given a new lease of life that has greatly improved accessibility, audience comfort, energy efficiency, and sensitively preserved its architectural heritage.
Balancing heritage and innovation
We delivered MEP and architectural lighting on the project, including new auditorium ventilation, new lifts, and a complete renovation of life-safety systems and electrical infrastructure.
A large part of the upgrade involved carefully disassembling the auditorium to install new ventilation ductwork routes. Our airflow analysis informed the new ventilation design, meeting the highest standards of acoustics and audience comfort. The new system distributes air in the auditorium via discreet slot ventilation, delivering fresh air smoothly and very quietly and allowing the architecture to shine without the distraction of obvious modern services. Fresh air to the auditorium is tempered by a new air handling unit, with heat recovery and a dedicated heat pump for heating and cooling, situated on the roof of the building.
The technical infrastructure of the venue has been upgraded to improve the facilities for touring shows. The electrical capacity has been doubled, and the fly tower has been extended by 4.5 metres to accommodate more technically demanding touring productions.
Quote
"I've worked on the King's Theatre restoration from masterplan right through to completion, so I've seen this project end-to-end. This project has benefited from a great team and client, with everyone involved being so committed, and it's really paid off."
Steve Kenicer
BSc AMInstP
Director, MEP Engineering
Partner
Improving accessibility
Two new lifts provide full access to people with limited mobility, to better serve the local community and Edinburgh as a whole. Compliance with modern standards includes new fire alarm systems to make this 120 year old venue fit for the future.
Our architectural lighting scheme improves accessibility and safety, and showcases the theatre's rich architectural details. Low energy LEDs were used wherever possible to improve energy consumption and ease of maintenance. We restored and reinstated many of the existing fittings, including chandeliers, saving money as well as carbon.
