NT Future

The National Theatre is home to an vast range of activity, both on and offstage, reaching more people than ever before in many ways, including the Travelex £12 Tickets season;  extensive education and outreach programmes;  the free summer  Watch This Space festival; Sunday openings; touring; and the recent introduction of live cinema broadcasts around the world, National Theatre Live.                    

In 1976 when the NT's South Bank building opened, the economic climate was as challenging as that we are currently facing.  Laurence Olivier, the National's first Director and his successor, Peter Hall, were not deterred from realising the vision described by Harley Granville-Barker in 1904, who foresaw a ‘visibly and unmistakably popular institution, making a large appeal to the whole community.' 

We have now launched an ambitious £70million scheme called NT Future to enable the National Theatre to rise to the challenge of the next 50 years. We want to open our building up - to audiences, passers-by and the local community - and to contribute to the regeneration of the South Bank; to transform our facilities for education and participation; and to keep ahead of new technologies and meet the changing needs of theatre artists and audiences. We want to achieve this alongside  environmental and financial sustainability - driving down costs while reducing energy consumption.

In 2007 architects Haworth Tompkins (who were responsible for the development of the National Theatre Studio) were appointed by the NT to write a Conservation Management Plan for Denys Lasdun's Grade II* listed building. This assesses the architectural significance of the site in all its intricate working detail and places it in its historic context, while providing a framework for any changes to the building. Developing the opportunities suggested by the Conservation Plan, the National Theatre asked Haworth Tompkins to prepare a masterplan for change.

We consulted widely, with neighbouring organisations on the South Bank and the local residents; with English Heritage, the Twentieth Century Society and the Theatres Trust; with members of staff and the NT's artistic community;  and with our audience.

The plan was granted planning consent by Lambeth Council on 29 September 2010, a decision we warmly welcomed and a critical hurdle in the scheme's realisation. The capital fundraising campaign has now begun in earnest; we believe that the combination of our commitment to the National Theatre's future and the generosity and the vision of our supporters, will enable this vital project to proceed.

On 28 October 2010, the National announced that Lloyd Dorfman CBE, Founder and Chairman of Travelex and a member of the NT Board, has pledged a personal philanthropic gift of £10 million to the NT Future redevelopment project. In recognition, the Cottesloe Theatre will be renamed the Dorfman Theatre when it reopens after refurbishment.

Major donations have also come from The Monument Trust which has committed £4 million to the scheme, and The Garfield Weston Foundation which has contributed £3 million. 

Additionally, on 24 March 2011, Dame Vivien Duffield announced a series of grants to open up new creative learning spaces across England, including £2.5 million to establish a Clore Learning Centre as part of the National's NT Future redevelopment.

The main elements of NT Future are:

• The creation of the Clore Learning Centre, funded by the Clore Duffield Foundation: a new learning centre alongside the Dorfman (currently Cottesloe) Theatre. There is currently no dedicated learning space on site and this will enable the National to integrate our learning programme into the working life of the theatre. It will include new dedicated learning spaces for practical and discussion-based work (the Duffield Studio and the Cottesloe Room), and will enable use of the Dorfman auditorium during the day as a resource for education workshops, with breakout spaces in the foyers and outside the theatre. A new backstage walkway will give public access to the production workshops, enabling education participants and audiences to observe the Theatre's internal life and theatre-making processes.
• The new Dorfman auditorium will be refurbished to extend capacity (creating over 10,000 new seats a year), while improving access and comfort, and equipping it for daytime education use with a seating system that allows for quick changes to a flat floor, and improved technical facilities. With improvements to the external entrance, this will animate and open the area during the daytime for the first time.
• A new production building to the south of the NT will give the National a hub for theatremakers to develop their onsite skills, including a modernised paint studio offering dramatic views of scenic artists at work and sets being built for visitors and passers-by on Upper Ground. Studios for designers and dedicated suites for digital production and experiment will enable more innovative and collaborative work and advance the NT's current projects such as National Theatre Live and digital online content, bringing the NT up-to-date with modern theatremaking processes.   
• The audience experience will be enhanced, relieving the current pressure on our crowded foyers and transforming its sometimes forbidding exterior for first-time visitors. The entrance will be opened to the river, and remodelled to welcome visitors from all directions. Our earned income will be increased by opening a new café-bar on the prime north-eastern riverfront corner (currently occupied by waste and goods facilities). A relocated bookshop will draw visitors into the NT foyers, which will be regenerated with new lighting and signage and a new lift to improve access.
• The external areas around the NT will be refurbished to open the National on all sides, drawing more people in with green spaces and gardens as well as  improving microclimate and biodiversity.

In addition, we have developed two further plans:

Environmental

The National Theatre has already made great strides in reducing its energy consumption, particularly through our partnership with Philips, but in order to lower our energy bills and achieve our plans for NT Future without increasing our energy consumption, a number of projects have been prioritised. These include:

• The installation of sub metering (to show where energy consumption is made, and to identify additional measures and targets)
• The installation of a combined heat and power system, generating heat from waste exhaust
• Renewal of boilers
• Installation of a thermal storage solution to capture heat and coolness, store and utilise as required.

Technical:

Much of the technical infrastructure in the National Theatre dates from its original installation and has reached its expiration date. Various items of equipment will require renewal in the coming years in order to maintain and improve the ability of the National Theatre to put on shows which cater for modern theatrical show designs. The Technical Masterplan will renew / install the following key items:

• A full replacement of the Olivier power-flying system
• Installation of a power-flying system in the Lyttelton (replacing the current manual system)
• A new lighting bridge solution for the Olivier
• New seating for the Cottesloe
• New drive and control systems for Lyttelton stage equipment.

Depending on a successful fundraising campaign, building work may begin in spring 2012.

May 2011