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\nThe renovation of St James Theatre in February this year.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Marika Khabazi\n<\/p>\n
There are plans for a new basement venue at Auckland’s St James theatre after builders unearthed extra space during renovations.<\/p>\n
The heritage theatre which opened in 1928 has been closed since a fire in 2007.<\/p>\n
Work is underway to re-open the theatre for its 100th anniversary in 2028.<\/p>\n
Steve Bielby of Auckland Notable Properties Trust, said the new basement area would host everything from live music to smaller-scale performances.<\/p>\n
He explained how the proposal for a new basement venue came about.<\/p>\n
“The building had existing basements in the north and in the south and part of the fire code is that we had to link those two basements so that in a fire you could escape through more than one way.”<\/p>\n
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\nSteve Bielby says the main structural work on the theatre is just starting to commence.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Marika Khabazi\n<\/p>\n
When the costings were done it was found it would be cheaper to remove the material completely to create a massive basement in the theatre rather than trying to create a tunnel, he said.<\/p>\n
That had been done and “it’s created this amazing venue space,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We’re designing it for up to 1200 people and that would be in a sort of concert-type mode but it could be used for everything from rehearsals to corporate events to bands – it’s a black box essentially, an empty black box, so everything comes in and it can be used for anything.”<\/p>\n
Watch: Perlina Lau from Culture 101 spoke to Steve Bielby about the St James renovations in February:<\/p>\n
He said it had been a long process to get this far.<\/p>\n
“It’s been sort of an 11-year restoration journey, it started at advocacy and now we’re into physical works, but it’s also a little about urban regeneration in that area, you know mid towns have a tough time and it’s great to see that Aotea arts quarter hopefully come to life.”<\/p>\n
But the restoration was going well and all the asbestos had been removed from the building and the new electrical system was in, he said.<\/p>\n
“The main structural work is just starting to commence, so all the scaffolding’s going up around the building at the moment.”<\/p>\n
Given the building’s age there were a lot of challenges in terms of restoring it, he said.<\/p>\n
“A lot of that fine arts stuff is outside the normal construction envelope. But I guess they’re challenges but they’re also the exciting bit because you’ve got to find ways to solve them.”<\/p>\n
Adding the basement venue was cost neutral but it removed some risks, he said.<\/p>\n
“So building a tunnel’s actually quite challenging, where as just excavating down and removing the material is a lot more of a calculable exercise.”<\/p>\n
He said they were on track and “2028 we’ll open those doors”.<\/p>\n