A UK leader

From the National Gallery and the Globe Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees to the Bristol Beacon and Soho Theatre in Walthamstow, few contractors can match our pedigree in theatres, arts and entertainment.

These are among the most demanding buildings we deliver: listed, often centuries old, acoustically and technically exacting, and frequently kept open to the public throughout. Getting them right takes more than construction skill, it takes a genuine understanding of how a venue works, how an audience moves through it, and how to protect a building's heritage while preparing it for the future.

Heritage at the highest level

Listed buildings are where we're most at home. At the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, a Grade I listed building within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site, our interiors team replaced more than 23,000 sq ft of roof glazing above the much-loved Ocean Court, resolving decades of water ingress and solar heat gain while the museum stayed open to its millions of annual visitors.

At Soho Theatre Walthamstow, we transformed the Grade II* listed former EMD (Granada) Cinema, a 1930s art deco landmark once graced by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash, into a 960-seat multi-purpose venue, using a careful "arrested decay" approach to preserve the auditorium's character while restoring the foyer, ziggurat ceiling and façade.

And at Hopetown Darlington, the centrepiece of our £35m railway heritage attraction was the painstaking restoration of the Grade II* listed Goods Shed, hidden and neglected for nearly 30 years, alongside the historic North Road Station and an 1853 Carriage Works, all reopened in time for the bicentenary of the world's first public steam railway.

Understanding what makes a venue tick

A theatre is only as good as the experience it delivers, and that depends on detail that audiences feel but rarely see. At Bristol Beacon, our five-year, £132m transformation of a 156-year-old concert hall rebuilt the main auditorium around acoustics and sightlines: two levels of balcony in place of one, an adjustable stage, bespoke acoustic brickwork and artist-designed seating, full wheelchair access for performers and audiences alike, and a state-of-the-art heating and cooling system. The result is four new performance spaces hosting over 800 events a year, and a venue Arts Council England has called one of the great cultural icons of modern-day Britain. The project's quality was recognised industry-wide when our project lead was named the CIOB's Construction Manager of the Year.

This is sector knowledge built over decades, the Globe Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington Hippodrome, Alexandra Palace, Wolverhampton's Civic Halls, the Octagon in Bolton and The Box in Plymouth.

Delivering in live and unpredictable environments

Heritage venues rarely give up their secrets quietly. Beneath Bristol Beacon we uncovered three ten-foot-deep Elizabethan wells, a Victorian heating system and hollow columns once thought solid, and held the original walls in place with a 120-tonne "birdcage" scaffold believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe at the time. Where buildings must keep running, we plan delivery around them: the National Maritime Museum welcomed visitors throughout, and our teams routinely work within occupied, constrained and operationally sensitive sites without missing a performance.

More than a venue

Theatre and entertainment projects are often the spark for wider regeneration, and the social value runs deep. Hopetown engaged more than 2,200 local students and created over 400 weeks of employment and apprenticeships; Soho Theatre Walthamstow generated an estimated £6.7m in local social and economic value; and the National Maritime Museum project delivered more than £900,000 in social return. These are buildings that give communities their identity back, and a reason to gather for generations to come.

Restoring the iconic Globe Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees

Transforming the biggest live entertainment venue of its kind between Newcastle and Leeds, thanks to the work of the Willmott Dixon team, The Globe opened its doors in 2021 for the first time in nearly 20 years. Hear what the customer has to say in the video below.