Arcola Theatre spearheads plan to protect the environment

Published Tuesday 17 July 2007 at 17:15 by Lalayn Baluch

London’s fringe sector is leading the world with what it claims is the globe’s first carbon neutral performing arts site.

Environmentally friendly plans for the Arcola Theatre include installing a biomass heating system, which will burn wood pellets instead of gas, solar panels on the roof, and fuel cells that create electricity without noise or pollution.

The development was conceived by the Arcola’s executive director Ben Todd, an engineer who spent ten years researching clean energy technologies at Cambridge University engineering department.

He told The Stage: “Somebody needs to be the first to do this. We should stop talking about it and do it. The first aim is to set that trend, the second is to help other people achieve it, and the third is to show people how to do it.

“Imagine how many people come to the theatre every year. They come because they want to be challenged and inspired. They want to be made to think. That’s exactly what we want and we want to encourage people to change their lifestyle. They won’t be inspired by a message on the tube, but they will come to the theatre to learn something new.”

The fringe venue hopes to attract financial support from organisations such as Hackney Borough Council and Arts Council England. It needs up to £350,000 to follow through the ambitious development, although some money has already been received from government grants for the theatre’s power saving scheme.

Alongside the development, the Arcola will also house an “energy technology incubator” - a space for scientists and engineers to research initiatives to tackle climate change. The space will be used by a group of engineers led by Todd, as well as visiting engineering companies commissioned to work on projects such as developing energy-saving lighting for the theatre.

Todd added: “Artists and scientists are very similar and fit very well. Theatre is scientific - you have a lighting designer, and a set designer. There is quite a lot of engineering in theatre.

“The key word is creativity, and this is not something that solely artists have, it’s something engineers have as well.”

The changes could take five years to finish, although Todd said that physical alterations would be seen six months after the project gets underway. He believes that all theatres will eventually have to undergo these developments, although funding will need to be made available from the government to enable this.

Todd also admitted that once the scheme is completed, the Arcola may be in the position to instruct other companies on how to make similar changes and use training sessions as a source of revenue for the theatre.