Design and Contract Administration
Silk Street, EC2
Base Building Consultancy was instructed by the Barbican to design and specify the refurbishment works of the Barbican Theatre Staff Canteen
The staff canteen is located 5 floors below ground within the Barbican Centre. The staff canteen is used by all the Theatre and Centre Staff located within the Barbican Centre. The canteen is open for breakfast even serving late meals when required if there is a performance on.
The Barbican Centre, is located within the Barbican Development, known as the Barbican Estate, which is a residential complex of around 2,000 flats. The Centre comprises the Theatre, the Arts Centre, the Guildhall School of Music and the City of London School for Girls.
The client wished to refurbish the staff canteen, as it was tired and the majority of the staff had become to dislike eating there, and were deciding to venture out of the complex to purchase and eat their food elsewhere. Our instructions were to improve the canteen, and create a more friendly, café cultured, canteen area so that staff could also use the area as an informal meeting place and somewhere to enjoy eating.
As part of our instruction, we prepared interior designs, including mood boards, to present to the head of the theatre (our client) in order to achieve approval. The Barbican is also a listed building so the City of London Conservation Officer had to consulted on the extent of the works, so that the historic building fabric internally was not altered drastically. Various design options were offered to the client in terms of interior design, colouring, fabric and existing layout. It was decided that the existing servery counter would remain, but this would be refaced with modern materials. New furniture was selected, together with a new lighting scheme. Brick slips, the same colour and style as the external brick copings throughout the estate were selected to modernise a very long internal wall adjacent to the main servery.
A specification of works was prepared and a tender package was sent out to a number of the Barbican Centre’s approved contractors to obtain costs for the works. A suitable contractor was selected and appointed on behalf the City of London.
The works were monitored on a weekly basis, but the work had to be carried out when the theatre was dark, i.e., closed within the summer period, in order to reduce the risk of disturbing rehearsals. Monthly valuations were prepared and payment certificates were arranged and issued to the contractor and the client for payment.
