The Stage

Edinburgh’s revamped Usher Hall opens

Published Friday 26 February 2010 at 14:04 by Thom Dibdin

Edinburgh’s Usher Hall has increased its capacity to 2,900 with the opening this week of a new wing, which is part of its £35 million refurbishment.

Only the landscaping remains to complete the project to unite the adjacent Royal Lyceum and Traverse theatres into an arts quarter.

New public and administrative accommodation in the building’s extension has returned space to the backstage areas, allowing enhanced dressing-room facilities.

The works also mean the venue now has capacity for 2,900 people when hosting promenade standing concerts. Current all-seated capacity is 2,200.

However, Colin Ross, an executive architect with LDN Architects, the company which designed the project, told The Stage that improvements could not be made to get-ins at the venue.

“It involves steps and is difficult at any rate because it is combined with the Lyceum get-in, so there are management issues as well as technical ones. It would have been good to improve that, but we just couldn’t afford to do that,” he said.