Â鶹´«Ã½

Palace Theatre Renovation and Conversion - Engineering Services

Constructed in 1888, the Palace Theatre has a long, storied history¡ªfrom showing the first silent motion picture in Wales to surviving the Blitz. In recent years, the building had fallen into disrepair. However, Swansea Council stepped in, purchasing it with the vision of creating flexible office and event space that also retained the visual history of the iconic Welsh theatre. They selected us as part of the team to provide multidisciplinary engineering services.

Very old buildings like this are difficult to bring back to life, particularly for structural engineers. Sourcing accurate information about the structure of a building this age presented a challenge to our team, both from records and on-site surveying. Large areas of the building were in such a poor state that they were too dangerous to access during the design stage. This required us to draw on our engineering judgement in the early stages before a contractor was on board. A significant enabling works contract helped halt the deterioration of some areas of the building and to make others safe, mitigating both commercial and health and safety risks.

Buildings from the 1880s understandably don't have the same accuracy and tolerances we expect today¡¯s buildings to have. Not to mention the building's unusual wedge shape with very few right angles. However, multiple rounds of 3D surveys helped us to understand the true spatial nature of the building, as we could peel back layers of finishes to reveal the bones of the structure.

Despite the relatively robust structure of the existing building, it wasn¡¯t without defects from decades of alteration and more recent disrepair. Our teams needed to be on hand almost daily through the three years of construction, ready to respond to the challenges encountered on site including deteriorating iron work, unsupported floors, masonry defects, and rotting timber.

Ultimately though, the derelict building was made-safe, restored, and reconfigured, with new floor spaces throughout to increase the lettable area for users, resulting in five floors of unique event and collaborative workspace, with a capacity for approximately 300 people.