Up on the Roof
Hard hats, high visibility jackets and oversized wellies would
not usually be the costume of choice to wear to a concert hall, but
for four students this summer, it was safety first as they
carefully made their way up the scaffolding steps within the
complex ‘birdcage’ scaffolding, to emerge into the roof space of
their new Concert Hall.
The rain just held off as David Baldwin, Matt Jones, Lisa
Leighton and Llio Evans, joined by leading figures from the
College, the board of Governors, architects BFLS, project managers
Davis Langdon and construction team Willmott Dixon marked the
symbolic moment in the building project with a Topping Out
ceremony.
Before the students took it in turns to tighten the symbolic
last bolt, Principal Hilary Boulding took the opportunity to say a
few words. She acknowledged all those who had given their
assistance to make the project work, particularly the Welsh
Assembly Government and Cardiff City Council. BFLS architects and
Willmott Dixon, the College’s partners in the building work, were
particularly praised: ‘They have proved to be great partners to go
through this process with and we can rest assured that we are in
very good hands.’
She continued, ‘I can’t emphasise enough how much these new
facilities will change the life of the College. Having the actors
and musicians on one site will finally bring us all together as we
have always wanted.’
Indicating Antonia Collins, Senior Stage
Management Lecturer, Hilary added, ‘Antonia was a student here when
this new building was first promised – and that was 21 years ago!
It’s been a long wait but next year we will be celebrating the
opening of a fantastic resource, not just for the College but for
Cardiff, and artists coming to Wales to work in world-class
performance spaces.’
The students were also able to walk around the building site,
standing on the stage of The Richard Burton
Theatre, and working out where the new café and public foyer,
overlooking Bute Park, would be situated.
So what did the students think of the new Concert Hall?
MMus vocal student Llio was first to voice her
enthusiasm, ‘It’s so wonderful to have a purpose-built concert hall
onsite, with such an excellent acoustic. It’ll be somewhere to
showcase all our hard work over the year,’ she said. ‘I can’t wait
until it’s finished to get up on that stage and experience it for
real.’
Theatre Design student Lisa Leighton continues, ‘The new design
includes an arcade within the structure that means we’ll be able to
display our work, and the public will be able to see it and really
appreciate what we do.’
Stage Management students Matt Jones and David Baldwin agree,
‘It’ll make such a difference to us as students to have everything
all together in one building at last, and not to have to travel to
other venues to do our work,’ said Matt. David agrees. ‘I’m really
looking forward to being able to work in this new building.’
Next time the students are in the building they plan to be in
slightly more formal dress. In the meantime they can watch from a
more comfortable viewpoint - on the webcam - as the building gets ever nearer
completion.