The Brindley

For the Cheshire village of the same name, see Brindley.
The Brindley

The Brindley is a theatre and arts centre in the town of Runcorn, Cheshire, England. Located by the Bridgewater Canal, the centre is named after the canal's engineer, James Brindley. It opened in autumn 2004; the architects were John Miller and Partners.[1] The building is owned by Halton Borough Council and its activities are organised by the council.[2]

Design and construction

Halton Borough Council were concerned about the building's impact on the environment and about its energy requirements. Therefore "low energy, high efficiency techniques" were used in its construction.[3] These include a TermoDeck slab system, a storage technique for controlling the environment within large and medium-sized buildings using hollow cores within pre-cast concrete floor slabs as ventilation ducts.[4]

Facilities

The venue consists of a 420-seat main auditorium playing host to touring productions, a professional pantomime each Christmas season, local amateur shows and in-house productions, a 108-seat studio which also serves as a single screen cinema, an exhibition and gallery space, an education room, a dark room, a digital imaging room, dressing rooms, a meeting room, a bar and a café overlooking the Bridgewater Canal.[2]

Awards

The centre has won several awards for its architecture: The Centre Vision Award from The Civic Trust in 2005,[1] the Excellence in Access award from the ADAPT Trust (Access for Disabled People to Arts Premises Today), and the Architectural Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects.[5] RIBA praised the building for fitting into its context, using the canal-side location to give views, and making good use of its budget.[6] It also won the Open Award for Technical Excellence in Architectural Technology 2008.[7]

For its community activities, The Brindley won the title Best Arts Project in the UK at The National Lottery Awards in 2007.[8] In May 2008, the theatre won the Best Performance Venue Award at the Mersey Partnership Tourism Awards 2008.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Special Award: Centre Vision Award, The Civic Trust, retrieved 29 September 2007
  2. 1 2 The Brindley, Halton Borough Council, retrieved 29 September 2007
  3. ↑ Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn, SVM Consulting Engineers, retrieved 16 January 2009
  4. ↑ Barton, P.; Beggs, C. B.; Sleigh, P. A. (September 2002), A theoretical study of the thermal performance of the TermoDeck hollow core slab system, Applied Thermal Engineering, 22:13, ScienceDirect, pp. 1485–1499, retrieved 16 January 2009
  5. 1 2 The Brindley: News, Halton Borough Council, retrieved 29 September 2007
  6. ↑ The Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn, RIBA, retrieved on 16 January 2009
  7. ↑ Glynn, Paul (20 August 2009), "Brindley Arts Centre receives Open Award for Technical Excellence in Architectural Technology 2008", Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News (Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales), retrieved 20 August 2009
  8. ↑ Breslin, Holly (20 September 2007), "We did it!", Runcorn Weekly News (Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales Limited), retrieved 29 September 2007

External links

Coordinates: 53°20′27″N 2°43′53″W / 53.3407°N 2.7314°W / 53.3407; -2.7314

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