A £1.7 million pound performing arts centre designed for Concord College, Acton Burnell, by Baart Harries Newall.

The new facility, set in the delightful grounds of an eighteenth century hall, was completed in November 2000. It provides a 300 seat auditorium space, an orchestra room, a suite of seven practice rooms and five classrooms.

Musical and dramatic productions are regularly staged within the new auditorium space by both the college students and professional performers.

The new Performing Arts centre at Concord College is a low lying building, with sweeping low pitched roofs that extend past the perimeter of the building, providing a sheltered edge.

The roofs are constructed in Terne coated stainless steel, which weathers to the colour of lead. The external walls are constructed in hand-made ?Roman? bricks laced with a continuous cill/string course in Grinshill stone. These materials emphasise the horizontality of the building which sits into the landscape.

The orchestral room has a large glazed façade to the west offering wonderful views of the remains of the thirteenth century Parliamentary Tithe Barn and Acton Burnell Castle

The auditorium for the new performing arts centre, Concord College, was designed with the assistance of acoustics consultants Ove Arup. A series of timber reflectors suspended from the ceiling allow the space to be used effectively for both music and speech. The acoustic performance of the space has been a great success.

To maintain a low background noise the space is heated and ventilated by an air diffusion system. This provides warmed or cool air at low velocity beneath each individual seat in the auditorium.

The large stage is connected back to the orchestra practice room and three classrooms that are used as greenrooms during performances.

The auditorium is fully equipped with stage lighting and sound facilities. A purpose built monitor sits within the auditorium for mixing ambient sound/light. In addition there is a separate sound/light mixing room at the back of the auditorium, complete with sound recording facitities.
The auditorium for the new performing arts centre, Concord College, is clad internally with maple panels. The suspended acoustic reflectors are also clad in maple, as are the backs of the auditorium chairs.

The entrance foyer is designed to incorporate flexible use. A movable wall can be folded back allowing one of the large classrooms can be opened into the foyer space. This doubles the size of the foyer area for major events.

The foyer and approach corridor to the main auditorium have walls clad in maple panels. There is also a small curved bar/reception counter with an adjoining kitchen area for preparing drinks and light snacks. The foyer is a double height space containing the main stair to the back of the auditorium. From the upper level of the building there are splendid views across the countryside.