Costume change for RSC workshop

Steel construction is playing a major role in the restoration and redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) costume workshop in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Home to the theatre’s award-winning costume-makers since the 1950s, the workshop was in urgent need of repair.

The construction work combines the remodelling of the historic existing buildings with a three-storey steel-framed new build element.

The new steel-framed structure wraps around the historic buildings linking them to the existing RSC Headquarters and will create enhanced facilities for what is the largest in-house costume-making department of any British theatre.

The facility is one of the few theatres to have an in-house armoury where armour and weapons are made as well as workshops where experts craftspeople make everything from hats, corsets and leatherwork to jewellery and masks.

Designed by architects practice Aedas, the redevelopment will also create a new entrance to the RSC offices and costume workshop using the 1887 former scene dock doors, which were built for the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.

Working on behalf of main contractor Stepnell, Coventry Construction is fabricating, supplying and erecting the steelwork.