Located in Harlesden this partially steel-framed building opened in 1912 as the Picture Theatre with seating at both stalls and balcony levels. After it closed as a cinema in the mid-1980’s it had a variety of uses until recently, when it was purchased by Brent Council who now intend to transform the building into a Community, Heritage Centre - including performance/meeting spaces, recording studios, a café and a Black Heritage museum.
The refurbishment aims to preserve the historic character of the building while delivering a modern, high-performance Community Centre. The transformation required extensive structural alterations to adapt the original cinema layout to contemporary needs and safety standards.
As the original structure was an unusual hybrid of steel framing and loadbearing masonry, a comprehensive intrusive structural survey was required to obtain the necessary information regarding the existing structure - and detailed calculations were carried out to assess the capacity of the existing floors, walls and foundations.
Additionally, throughout the history of the building, ‘piecemeal’ alterations had been made to the original structure, resulting in numerous structural ‘surprises’ when the existing structure was exposed. This meant that we had to be constantly ‘on our toes’ to be able to rapidly adapt our structural designs as necessary.
A new mezzanine floor, clear spanning between the side walls, was constructed within the original double-height auditorium.
Other significant structural alterations included:-
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Alterations to the existing 1st Floor offices structure.
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In one wing; the complete removal of the existing stairs, floors and roof (involving a façade retention [Vertex Engineers were also responsible for the temporary works}) to accommodate a new lift and stairs and new 1st Floor.
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New external fire escape stairs with new penetrations into the retained building.
