Here at HME Services, we know much of our theatre work does not compete in the glamour stakes and is quite often not visible to the visitor but, as in this case, it is always a crucial aspect of a renovation. For example, as part of its redevelopment, the Theatre Royal Sydney undertook a massive internal safety upgrade for which we were responsible.
One of Australia’s oldest theatrical institutions, originating in 1832, the current Theatre Royal Sydney was designed by acclaimed architect Harry Seidler and constructed in 1976. It closed its doors in March 2016 ahead of the redevelopment of the MLC Centre and reopened late last year after a multi-million dollar refurbishment.
“People may wonder where all the money was spent without realising the number of safety upgrades that were needed to make it not only a pleasurable experience but a safe experience working in the theatre,” commented Nick Cook, Theatre Royal’s Technical Manager. “It was critical to get this aspect up to standard and that’s what HME Services were contracted to do.”
HME undertook an extensive risk assessment of many areas including the lighting bridges where there were no handrails or anything to stop someone from falling! HME designed, manufactured and installed new handrails and midrails. The midrail height is adjustable to locally access the lights.
Lighting Bridge 2 required followspot positions and so HME fabricated and supplied two followspot mounting spigots as well as designing, manufacturing and installing a third, brand new followspot location.
For the front of house Lighting Bridge access, redundant steel was removed and missing handrails and kick rails were installed. Access ladders were inspected and repaired.
The front of house box booms have had a tower structure builtin behind them so you no longer have to physically scale the lighting positions to hang lights. There is now safe access behind the perches to climb in and adjust the lighting with pulley pick up points at the top of every box to haul lights into position.
“HME designed and engineered a counterweight storage system so that we could accurately disperse the weight of the counterweights across the galleries ensuring no single gallery could be overloaded,” said Nick. “This is genius because galleries often get overweighted on bump-outs but now there’s no physical way of doing that because each storage position on the galleries can hold set weight.”
At the rear of the stage, a spiral staircase delivers access to the galleries and as there is no space for any other structure, it is the only practical way of getting from the deck to the prompt side galleries. The staircase was made much safer by installing a compliant height handrail, fitting mesh kick rail and the addition of non-slip nosing.
“Paul Ryan’s, HME’s Project Manager, knowledge of theatre and theatre spaces made the install of theatre-related items incredibly smooth,” remarked Nick. “His ability to translate to the builders on site the requirements of the theatre were invaluable.
“The work that HME did at the Theatre Royal was vital as quite simply, the venue was not safe. The ability to call on an engineering company that understand and operate in this space means that you can achieve everything that you need to without compromise and the practicality of what it’s there to be used for. Unfortunately, I’ve dealt with several engineers before who don’t understand what the spaces are used for and it can throw everything out as the practicality of the end-use is not taken into account.”
HME also extended the heights of kick rail on PS Gallery, extended the kick rail height and added stair nosing to OP stairs, checked and certified Fall Arrest and static safety lines and added grip tape to the access ladders to the LX bridges and the LX perches.
“It was great to be involved in the revitalisation of a much-loved space,” remarked Paul Ryan. “Whilst our works will not be appreciated by the public, as they are not seen, we think that the production teams will enjoy the benefits of a safer place to work!”
