New Theatre, Oxford
The main commercial theatre in Oxford is located on George Street in the centre of the city.
It has a capacity of 1,785 people and puts on a wide variety of shows, including musical theatre, stand-up comedy, and concerts.
We initially attended the theatre in December 2022 to carry out a feasibility report for the removal of the existing safety curtain, the existing curtain was clad in asbestos, and it was decided that the full system would be replaced including the curtain, counterweights, pulleys, and hoist.
In April 2023, work began on procuring equipment and manufacturing the mammoth curtain (14.3m Wide x 10m High), once the individual parts were manufactured, we assembled them all in our workshop ensuring all components worked together, this prevented any issues on-site during the installation.
In August 2023 we started our onsite work, the programme was tight with a completion date of mid-September and the hours were long to meet our deadline.
The whole company worked hard, together, to achieve our goal ensuring it was completed on time and to the highest quality.
Feedback received from Steven Ramsden,
New Theatre – Technical and Building Manager
CSE was contracted with the removal of all aspects of our old asbestos Safety Curtain and the installation of a brand new one. A mammoth task itself, even without the 7-week hard deadline forced upon them.
Kevin Greenhouse led the charge from the top from the design phase through to conversations with the council and everything in between, he did everything in his power to make sure the project went ahead without issue. From the first conversation with Kevin, we at the New Theatre Oxford knew we were in safe hands.
On the ground, the project was pushed forward by Darren and his teammates Sid and Val. Darren went above and beyond making sure the site remained safe throughout and that the work was completed in line with all ATG and New Theatre Oxford safety guidelines. For 7 weeks, Darren, Sid and Val worked tirelessly doing everything in their power to make sure the work was completed on time. No matter what obstacles they came across, and truthfully this old building threw quite a lot at them, they powered on in high spirits and completed the project within the time frame and to an outstanding standard.
I cannot recommend CSE highly enough and would encourage anyone facing a massive project to give them a call.
