The Stage

NT confirms details of £50 million ‘Master Plan’

Published Wednesday 18 November 2009 at 15:57 by Lalayn Baluch

The National Theatre has confirmed the initial details of its £50 million plan to modernise its Grade II-listed London home.

The scheme, designed by architects Haworth Tompkins, will aim to improve the “transparency” of the building.

A new studio for scenery designers will be created within an extension at the back of the building. It will feature a glazed wall that will enable the public to see into the backstage areas.

The service yard on the river bank side will be relocated to the back of the site, which will allow the north-east corner of the NT to be opened up to the walkway. Meanwhile, the development plan will also include new cafes and outdoor seating.

The Cottesloe theatre foyer will be enlarged and refurbished, while the workshop areas adjacent to the foyer will be transformed into two new education and participation spaces.

Haworth Tompkins, which led the development of the NT Studio, have created a conservation management plan and an initial master plan, which “responds to defects and opportunities that are evident 30 years after the building’s completion, but also ways of making the organisation more efficient to run and capable of continuing to operate at very high levels of productivity and artistic standards”.

The NT aims to complete the design for the first phase of the development by the end of the year, and will submit a planning application next summer.