Thousands of deaf children are able to enjoy music - and more fulfilling lives - thanks to the unique £3m performing arts centre at Mary Hare Grammar School, a non-maintained special school for the deaf.
A fundraising appeal launched in November 2002 secured critical grants from the Government, the national lottery and charitable foundations. Building work began in January 2005 after Beard negotiated a design and build contract and trimmed the construction costs by £500,000.
Beard had already worked for Mary Hare and the design team on earlier projects, including the school's sixth form complex.
The new Performing Arts, Conference and Education centre benefits not only the school's 215 pupils, but also the students of hundreds of teachers of the deaf who will come to the centre for their specialist teacher training.
The sound-proofed practice rooms, sophisticated acoustics and specialist amplification systems will enable pupils to exploit their residual hearing and develop their innate musicality.
Beard employed an acoustics engineer and a specialist services engineer, who jointly specified the centre's mechanical and electrical systems, which account for a quarter of the project costs. Led by Beard, the team worked closely together throughout the design and development phase to ensure that a solution was reached that met the acoustic performance and budget. All alarms provide visual as well as audible signals and there is an infra-red hearing loop in the auditorium and ticket office.
At the heart of the centre is a 7.6m tall multi-purpose auditorium with seating for 250. The lighting, sound, scenery changes, computer projection system and lectern podiums are operated from a control room at the rear of the auditorium's upper gallery. The theatre lights are reached from the upper level of the building via a suspended gantry walkway.
Performers have easy access to a 'green' room and dressing rooms leading off the auditorium. The building's main entrance is completely glazed, and leads into a theatre foyer with ticket office, bar, and cloaks room. Steps and a platform lift for wheelchair users provide access to the auditorium and three seminar rooms. The roof is slate, with an insulated slate support system.
The concrete floors are 250mm thick to aid sound absorption, and there are suspended ceilings throughout the ground floor. The auditorium has a sprung beech floor manufactured by Junckers. A 'sacrificial' floor of plywood sheets sits on top of the beech floor, this can be painted and repainted for performances.
A stand-alone facility has been provided for Nordoff Robins who are a registered charity specialising in music therapy. Access to the facility is via a dedicated entrance which leads to a music therapy suite, an observation room, offices and an IT room. Acoustic standards in the music therapy suite are higher than anywhere else in the building. A two-way mirror has also been provided for observation.
Challenges and solutions
Designing and implementing the right level of acoustic performance to separate spaces was a key element of the brief.
Beard worked closely with the architect, Farrow Silverton, in researching, specifying, and implementing the correct technical solution for each room. Typical floor construction is permanent formwork with a 200mm reinforced structural topping. At ground floor level, walls are masonry, clad and layered with a metal frame, insulation and up to 3 layers of plasterboard.
Creating the building's foundations was a major challenge because of the sloping site. The Beard team created a series of low gradient ramps, level surfaces and mats, for the piling equipment. The foundations comprise 150 piles, each 350mm in diameter and an average of 17 metres deep.
The low frequency vibration from conventional compaction piling would have affected deaf pupils in nearby school buildings, so the Beard team used a continuous flight auger piling system instead.
"We are thrilled with Beard's professionalism and attention to detail and their sharing of our vision and determination to help us achieve it. They've been a delightful organisation to work with and they couldn't have been better partners."
