MCC of City of London
Barbican cinema
The vision
The Barbican Centre is one of the world’s leading arts centres, founded and run by the City of London Corporation. It provides all the arts – music, theatre, dance, cinema, the visual arts and creative learning who work together in creating the model of tomorrow’s international arts and learning centre. Committed to offering a world-class programme which will inspire, challenge and amaze its audiences, the Barbican is also home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Associate Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra. The architecturally renowned Centre, now Grade II Listed, opened in 1982, and comprises the 1,949 seat Barbican Hall, the 1,166-seat Barbican Theatre, the 200-seat Pit theatre, a cinema, the Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, the Lakeside Terrace, a roof-top tropical conservatory, conference facilities and three restaurants.
The Cinema site area was 0.27 ha and situated at the east end of the original ‘Barbican Exhibition Hall One’. The site formed part of the Grade II Listed Barbican Estate.
The redevelopment of the Barbican Exhibition Hall One was undertaken to provide a satellite venue for the Barbican accommodating two new cinemas and ancillary facilities to be enjoyed by residents and visitors and to enhance the existing public realm. In doing so, the project aimed to enhance sustainability by re-using existing structure and upgrading the building fabric and systems to meet current construction and performance standards.
Our Role
We were appointed late in the project whilst it was under construction with the aim of improving the deteriorating relationships within the existing team. Issues of project over-run and emerging potential disputes led to the entrenchment of positions such that cooperation between the parties was suffering.
We took over from the existing project manager and in negotiation with the Contractor, agreed changes to the existing team and approach focussing on completion rather than the historic issues that we agreed could be addressed later. Completion of the work was achieved to a high standard and the facilities are now being enjoyed by the local and visiting community.