Lighthouse, Poole
Sustainable Acoustics acted as the acoustic specialists for the refurbishment of the well-known Lighthouse, Poole’s centre for the arts. We worked alongside award-winning architect Design Engine, to assist in the £5.3 million refurbishment of the iconic building, Britain’s largest regional arts centre.
With project management from the Sweett Group, we were responsible for making significant acoustic improvements to the foyer, function room, Concert Hall and studio theatre. The project also aimed to improve the environmental efficiencies of Lighthouse, resulting in a projected saving of up to five per cent in utility bills.
After securing a large-scale grant of £4 million from the Arts Council and £650,000 from the Borough of Poole, construction work on the project began in two phases, the first of which is started in July 2015, and the second in June 2016.
“Sustainable Acoustics looks at the whole picture and includes factors such as comfort levels, the environmental impact of the materials specified, the likely social impacts of the scheme and the potential to develop a positive soundscape by amplifying positive and natural sounds, whilst also managing the negative effects of noise sources and vibration.” - Peter Rogers (Managing Director, Sustainable Acoustics)
The project has resulted in significant improvements in the sound insulation and room acoustic in many of the supporting spaces surrounding the concert hall and theatre in this iconic 1970s building. A ‘baseline’ detailed acoustic study of the concert hall, involving survey work, audience and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s members’ questionnaires established future improvements to the Concert Hall acoustics, which have the potential to be implemented as and when funding becomes available.
The relaunch was celebrated with an opening night at the Sherling Theatre – the transformed black-box studio theatre designed in the round. A champagne and canapé reception was followed by a fabulous new theatre production “Archipelago” by Caridad Svich. The acoustics in the studio supported a clear and bright poetry dialogue, whilst maintaining warmth and an acoustically intimate setting.
Lighthouse has since been crowned the winner of the South West Community Benefit category at the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards. The award was given for the work carried out during the centre’s major refurbishment project in 2015-16.
"It has been a real pleasure to work with Peter and Louise at Sustainable Acoustics on the Lighthouse refurbishment project. Their realistic and pragmatic approach to an unseen but vital aspect of our venue has ensured that we now have function rooms that are a joy to be in for meetings and rehearsals, dressing rooms that are inviting places for artists, effective sound separation between rooms, and acoustically comfortable public areas, which are palpably better to be in. They absolutely got it – and gently ensured, by working collaboratively with us, that we did too." - Elspeth McBain (CEO, Lighthouse)
