Topping Out Ceremony Takes College New Build 'One step closer
to completion'
On Thursday July 1st a Topping Out ceremony took place at Royal
Welsh College of Music & Drama to mark the completion of the
concrete shell of the £22.5 million building project.
Leading figures from the College, the Board of Directors,
students, architects BFLS, project managers Davis Langdon and
construction team Willmott Dixon gathered together to celebrate
this symbolic moment in the building project. Work will begin
shortly on the roof structure, the final construction phase of what
will be an important new gateway to Cardiff.
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is Wales’ leading
music and drama conservatoire and this new addition to the
College’s professional training and performance facilities
comprises The Richard Burton Theatre, recently named at a gala
evening at Buckingham Palace, along with the 450-seat Concert Hall,
four Acting & Movement Studios and an Exhibition Gallery.
‘We are delighted to celebrate this significant
stage of the College’s exciting new £22.5 million development,
bringing us closer to the completion of this state-of-the-art
addition to the College’s estate,’ said Principal Hilary Boulding.
‘These new facilities will transform our performance and rehearsal
facilities and enable the College to attract the best students from
Wales, the UK and internationally to study in Cardiff. The new
building will also provide increased opportunities for local
performing arts organisations to access training and promote their
own work in state-of-the-art performance spaces.’
Neal Stephens, managing director of Willmott Dixon in Wales,
added, ‘The ‘topping out’ ceremony, celebrated in the construction
industry when the highest point of the building has been reached,
brings the countdown to the completion of these superb facilities
one step closer.’
Architect Jason Flanagan from BFLS, elaborated,
‘Set in the grounds of Cardiff Castle, our design has created a new
face for the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama on North
Road. The front door to the College is framed between two new
Performance venues: The Richard Burton Theatre, and a new Chamber
Recital Hall. The focus of the scheme is a public foyer with views
west into Bute Park and into the Exhibition Gallery in the arcade
which forms the spine of the Campus.’
The new buildings are due to open in the Spring of 2011.