Property experts celebrate RST opening
More than 300 representatives from the West Midlands’ land and property sector attended an event hosted by construction company Mace. Birmingham-based Mace was celebrating the completion of the £56m refurbishment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST).
Mace was construction manager on the project to transform the Stratford-upon-Avon building. Through the project, the 1,000-seat auditorium was reconstructed and built around a thrust stage.
Work started in 2007 and was completed on time and to budget and was ready for reopening by the Royal Shakespeare Company late last year.
Guest speaker at the event was Shakespearean actor Richard Griffiths, who will appear in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie this summer.
He said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to everybody at Mace who has been involved in this project.
“What’s happened in Stratford is they’ve taken a shabby and slightly worn-down but much-loved old barn of a theatre and not just refurbished it but revitalised it and almost reinvented it.
“It’s a remarkable achievement and I speak not just from the audience perspective but also the end-user perspective.
“Both the actors and the audiences will enjoy the theatre for hundreds of years to come.”
Mace is also involved with projects including Birmingham Gateway, the redevelopment of the LG Arena and Birmingham International Airport.
