Priva makes return performance at Bath’s Theatre Royal
As part of the £2.35 million refurbishment of the main house of the Theatre Royal in Bath, one of the major priorities was improving energy efficiency — an objective that was achieved using Priva building-management technology. As an historical landmark and a Grade 2 listed building, the project was subject to particularly stringent building restrictions, especially not damaging the building’s delicate fabric. The existing energy-management system was also chaotic, with two ‘satellite’ theatres having been opened over the last 20 years, both locally controlled — making it difficult to tweak heating and ventilation controls in real time.
E3 Consulting engineers of Bath oversaw the services design elements of the project and prioritised upgrading the H&V system in order to monitor operations more effectively and create a centralised control hub.
The Priva system provides backwards compatibility with other manufacturers’ systems and can use existing BMS cabling, safeguarding the building’s fabric and saving on capital expenditure.
Alpha Control Services, a Priva Partner company, carried out the work during the 2-month refurbishment closure period. Alpha installed three Internet-compatible controllers from the Compri HX range and eight radio-frequency sensors at various locations throughout the theatre’s main auditorium. Using RF technology meant there was no need to disturb walls and ceilings with rewiring works.
Priva equipment had previously been installed in the Ustinov Studio, one of the satellite theatres with 120 seats, to control its refurbished H&V system. It has proved reliable and easy to use over two years.
As a result of the latest work, the Theatre Royal has been able to streamline its building-services management. For the first time, control of H&V systems across the entire building — comprising the main theatre, Ustinov and the Egg (the other satellite and a children’s theatre) — has been incorporated into a single management system centrally controlled via a computer instead of separate local panels. Two computers are hooked into the system — one for the theatre’s technical manager and the other for the maintenance manager.
Joe Wright, technical manager at the Theatre Royal, says, ‘Using the Priva technology, we can view information about how each of the three systems is performing, plus other data about external air temperature and the environmental conditions for the theatre’s audience. From a layman’s point of view, the software is very intuitive, so it’s easy to make changes to the heating and ventilation via the computer interface.’
One benefit of the new system has been to discover that the old supply and extract fans in the main auditorium were a weakness in the overall H&V system. Mr Wright comments, ‘By replacing these fans, we will be able to further improve the efficiency of the theatre.’
To improve the comfort of the audience in the main auditorium, it is now possible to increase ventilation mid-performance.
