ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL LONDON
Architects: Allies and Morrison
Year of completion: 2007
An iconic building of the 1950's, the Royal Festival Hall was closed for refurbishment 50 years later and reopened in 2007. The process of achieving improved access and inclusive design during the refurbishment works involved close collaboration with the Access Group over many years.
The result and improvements include new shops and restaurants outside the building and less clutter internally, making the internal circulation and wayfinding easier for everyone. There are new step-free entrances into the building, with power assisted doors, a new internal glass lift and step-free access to almost all internal areas both for the public and at back-of-house.
Within the Auditorium, the acoustics have been greatly improved, the seating has been reorganised to provide more leg room and the accessibility of the seats has been increased significantly. There is now a choice of spaces for more than 32 wheelchair users and 345 'easy-access' seats reached by only 1-2 steps from the Foyer.