The 32 metre-high ‘lantern’ platform, which will allow visitors to take in panoramic views across Stratford, has been positioned at the top of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre’s new tower.
The glass and steel viewing platform, which will accommodate up to 50 people, was built on the ground and lifted into place by a 300 tonne mobile crane. It will sit on the magnificent new Theatre Tower built by 8 specialist bricklayers and 6 specialist architectural metal workers from over 90,000 bricks gently ascending at a 3 degree angle. The outer walls have been built by hand over the last nine months and to do this the tower has been progressively encased in scaffolding.
Descent will be by a steel staircase that wraps around the central lift shaft, offering views through many small windows that are set in the thick brick outer walls or through the slit windows that form the corners of tower. On their descent from the top, visitors will be able to cross to the theatre where they will encounter the third floor rooftop restaurant, which will have panoramic views of the River Avon and the adjacent Bancroft Gardens.
The prominent structure was inspired by the original Memorial Theatre water tower, which was engulfed in flames when the theatre was gutted by fire in 1926. As well as becoming a significant new feature for the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) itself and providing stairs and one of two passenger lifts serving all levels of the new theatre, this structure will create a new landmark for Stratford-upon-Avon. It also forms one side of the new entrance to the colonnade, which will link the RST and the Swan Theatre together for the first time.
Simon Erridge, Director of Bennetts Associates, said: “It was an exciting moment for the whole team and the result of a great collaborative effort. The size of the crowd that formed in the street below made the whole operation a piece of theatre in its own right!”
Companies involved in the construction of the Theatre Tower and lifting of the Theatre Tower ‘lantern’ include Buro Happold, Gardiner and Theobold, Drivers Jonas (RSC Project Team), plus Mace (Construction Managers) and CMF, Lesterose, Elliot Thomas (trade contractors).