Built in 1938, Watford Colosseum is a Grade II listed building renowned worldwide for its exceptional acoustics. Described by Julian Lloyd Webber as 'the finest recording venue in the world', it is home to the BBC Concert Orchestra, has been used to record multiple famous movie soundtracks and has hosted a long list of musical as well as sporting greats.
To ensure Watford Colosseum's longevity and to position it as a cultural and sustainable quarter that will drive local investment, Watford Borough Council (WBC) appointed Morgan Sindall's Northern Home Counties business to undertake an extensive refurbishment.
The Colosseum project follows Morgan Sindall's ongoing refurbishment at the adjoining, also Grade II listed, Watford Town Hall. When complete, the combined £20m project will preserve both buildings and make use of reduced civic office space to create areas that nurture a sense of belonging and identity. This will see a new interactive museum added alongside a hub to support young people, entrepreneurs, and start-ups as well as a community space and café.
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Scheduled for completion in Autumn 2024, Morgan Sindall will create a new stage and lighting rigs to enable a wider range of acts to perform and will reopen the original grand entrance, which has been closed for over a decade. Visitors will benefit from a new café as well as accessibility, lighting, and signage improvements to bring the pre-war site up to a modern standard. The tier one contractor will also install an external ventilation duct, roof plant, and refurbish the existing canopy to the front of the building.
To align the Colosseum with WBC's sustainability goals, the project will minimise the amount of material sent to landfill and make the venue significantly more energy efficient. This will be achieved by installing modern insulation materials, upgrading the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems, and adding photovoltaic (PV) panels to the roof.
Once complete, WBC can expect sustainability performance levels far beyond those typical of civic buildings constructed in the 1930s. This includes a 40% saving on gas bills due to new cavity wall insulation and, when combined with replacing all lights with LED equivalents and installing new roof insulation, a 166-tonne annual saving in carbon emissions. The refurbishment will also realise U-value improvements, with the rate of energy loss from the walls reduced by a factor of six, and from the flat roofs by a factor of 17.
The unique nature of this project will require Morgan Sindall to leverage its Intelligent Solutions approach to meet one-of-a-kind challenges. Maintaining the venue’s renowned acoustics is a top priority and has been factored into every stage of the Colosseum’s planning, design, refurbishment, and operation. Bringing the venue up to a modern benchmark for functionality and sustainability while respecting its historic fabric, such as the timber panelling and Art Deco façade, has likewise seen Morgan Sindall devise innovative solutions and construction processes.
