Driving past the site daily for Shrewsburys new theatre puzzles me to when the construction will start. How long will it be used as overflow car park for I can only assume SABC employees? Can somebody enlighten me?

Yes, you've been looking at the wrong site. :rolleyes:

The new theatre is being built by the Welsh Bridge on the right hand side as you cross over into Frankwell.

Construction has been going on for over half a year now.

Yes, and until last week, when they started to erect the steel frame, there hasn't been much to see for six months of work.

Interesting point though. It's a fair while since Telephone House was demolished which must have cost loads and since then the site has just been a car park. It must be a valuable site so why haven't the council sold it off?

I'd rather have the rubbish car park than the even more rubbish Telephone House though!!

Silly me! I wondered what was going on over the Welsh Bridge! Well I can look right now and enjoy the new scenery, very exciting too. Does everyone think the site next to Raven Meadows car park could be earmarked for the bus depot then ?

I doubt the planners (or local retail businesses) would allow a bus depot there, or anywhere within the river loop.

A more likely and "pencilled in" site is between the railway lines north of the town centre, near Castle Foregate.

What about Barker St.were it always used to be,handy for town and market.

We're talking about the bus depot not the bus station - that's staying put.

Has anyone seen the size and hight of the steel works for the new theatre I have heard that the hight is going to be alot higher yet. :o

I think that this will be an eyesore for the town when it is finished!!

The new Guildhall is and always will be the biggest eyesore on Frankwell Quay...



:unsure:

Thankyou for the photo of the guildhall or as I see them as the luxury flats that will be sold when we go over to one council!!.

As for the new theatre well the way SABC works it will soon be sold of if it is any good or will be supported by the council taxpayer if it is a white elephant

you only have to look at the golf course and the sports village to see that!!

when it comes to the theatre severn Vs the guildhall comparison in the category of biggest eyesore, it is very close between the two as to which one is worse

I don't think the plans look that bad. It's not going to be a world beater but at least it's not some mock-tudor monstrosity like the Charles Darwin shopping Centre, that surely is the biggest eyesore in Shrewsbury town centre.

http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/news/webcam/

You can keep an eye on the theatre here and watch it grow (welsh bridge cam) :P

I had read on a BBC site that Theatre Severn was bigger than some people thought and was of ''gargantuan proportions'' to the surrounding buildings. Seen here it obviously looks an ugly structure because it has not yet been built. Do people think its too big? I think it will be a valuable asset to Shrewsbury personally too big or not!

It seems that to most Salopians anything taller than a maypole is too tall.

Of course it's not too big! Though maybe a little squashed on it's rather small site - it should have been given more land (either at present location - tricky to do - or at another location).

I await it's completion!

Apparently our previous conservation officer, Micky King has declared NEV (As I would prefer it be called) too tall for the site. This was what our totally ignored Civic Society also said along with criticism of the site and design. CABE said all of that too and this was ignored or falsely recorded by the planning committee.


Unfortunately our present conservation officer, specially chosen by our councillors has no serious background in design and consequently had no 'teeth' with which to present a serious analysis of the theatre. He is the first conservation officer we have had in Shrewsbury who is not a fully qualified architect. As Shrewsbury is architecturally an important town (as is Shropshire as a whole) this is a very detrimental situation for future development.

The development just passed for the old Copthorne nursery site is a good example of the Civic Society being ignored and another bland and uninspiring pastiche design getting the thumbs up.

The development proposed for the Gay Meadow and for the town centre IMHO will turn Shrewsbury into a rival for the new Charles Dickens theme Park !!!

Then why is old Lord Hill's statue still up? It's only the tallest Doric column in....er....somewhere I can't be bothered to Google up. :)

I don't think it's too big, it's bigger than its surroundings but then if every building had to be no taller than its existing neighbours, we'd all be living in bungalows.

I think it will be an asset to the town, the Music Hall certainly hasn't attracted many top class acts and productions over the last few years, something needs to kick Shrewsbury onto the cultural map of Britain.

PS. Although Lord Hill claims to be the world's tallest Doric column, it actually isn't, just don't tell Shropshire Tourism :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Mo...%28Baltimore%29

I think it is difficult to judge the impact of the new theatre from the steel frame. It will certainly be prominent for traffic coming down Frankwell. With the black and white building used for Frank's bar in the foreground, it could be a jarring clash of styles if the cladding doesn't compliment it.

I know what you are saying but it is the relationship that buildings have with each other that is important so a tall building can go next to a smaller building, look at the 'gherkin' in London. The shape of the 'gherkin' means that it kind of draws in rather than looms and the contrasting materials to the adjacent stone church result in it giving a delicate jewel like appearance not at all dominating.

The Guildhall was too large for its site and thrust parts of Frankwell into permanent gloom and I fear the theatre will make that situation even worse.

I am hoping that it will not be a total eyesore/white elephant because the blame will be put on the contemporary design rather than the inability of SABC to listen to the Civic Society, CABE and the misgivings of the original architects of the scheme who all advised of the constraints of that site.
We were originally supposed to have a theatre seating 1200 which would have really pulled in the big names but choosing a position with so many drawbacks mean't the budget could not run to this size nor would it fit the site.

We have some exceptional and some good modern buildings in Shrewsbury but also too many unmitigated disasters such as the pseudo medieval shopping centres. Julian Friars new houses, the old Owen Owen corner ( very disney) and not forgetting of course, the Guildhall!

I really wish the council had not dropped the Gay Meadow in order to make some extra short term cash. :(
It could have been wonderful with the Abbey Gardens next door incorporated as an option for open air Shakespeare in a marvelous setting, plenty of underground parking provision for the town and theatre and an opportunity for Wakeman School to be connected in some way.

I saw the new theatre (or the shell of it) the other day for the first time when i was visiting my nan in shrewsbury. Why has it been called theatre severn and not severn theatre? May sound an odd question, but a friend of mine said it was because shrewsbury is close to Wales, and it was felt a welsh sounding name was appropriate. Is this true, or is my friend winding me up?

Whats happening with the ruins of the old welsh bridge? is it going to be a feature in the theatre? - i hope so.

Anyway, its nice to see shrewsbury is looking good these days. I moved away 8 years ago and only come back now and again. It seems to have changed quite a bit since i went.

I read that the remains of the original bridge will be preserved but will be under the main stage. The electricity sub-station has now been removed and the building that housed it demolished. Under the site, below the remains of old cellars, I hear that stonework has been found which may be the remains of the medieval St George's chapel or hospital.

Has anyone got some artist impression pictures of the new theatre they could post up??

Have a look here:

http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/yourco...ilprojects/nev/

It should win a prize for the building using the most variety of cladding ever built.

Contemporary architecture looks great if well thought through but this site had too many constraints. For a starter it is too small and the resulting mish mash will be as vile as the pretend warehouse building/Guildhall is next door.

What a terrible waste of our money and the opportunity we had. :angry:

I think from the river it looks pretty good except for the big expanse of greeny brown wood(?) cladding at the Welsh Bridge end. From the road side though it's pretty poor in my opinion, i'm not sure the idea of incorporating the old tyre place really works.

We seem to be going through a phase where architects are using as many materials as possible on public buildings - brick, timber cladding, reconstituted stone, plastic coated metal for instance. On top of this, many designs seem to be confused and unnessarily complicated. I have to admit that I favour symmetry and think Georgian design is best.

As the new theatre takes shape, it does seem way out of proportion to the buildings around it. I realise Theatres have to be bigish buildings, just wonder if its the right site as it seems to be totally shadowing and blocking out the sun for some smaller surrounding buildings. Too late to worry now I guess !

I'd have to agree. I didn't choose Town Walls for nothing, you know!

It really won't be very long before this sort of design is derided as a product of yet another 'decade that taste forgot' and go the same way as fondue parties, hostess trolleys, avacado bathroom suites and Telford.

There aren't many architectural styles that haven't been derided at one time or another. That's normal enough, I think; what separates the real quality from the dross is that some styles have stayed in the "derision pile", whereas others have then gone past their "down phase" and settled into being genuinely appreciated. Georgian architecture is one such - the early Victorians and Regency builders weren't too fond of buildings that they saw as cold mausolea, but now we've come to appreciate the style properly. 1960s concrete blocks as epitomised by Telford, on the other hand, seem to be destined to remain in the derision pile, which is where I think they belong.

This is what I call great design. (I hear snorts of derision)







I have a feeling that you both would prefer this however:






There is no symmetry to the terrace due to one house less being built to enable parking for cars at one end. ( or the horse and trap )

There are ugly plastic gas boxes dotted at various positions along the front. (Health & Safety would not be happy about the occupiers not using mod cons like gas and electricity!)

Finally look at the roofline if you can face popping down to Old Coleham for a look and risk having an attack of derision.
The chimneys look just a bit too perfect don't you think? Not really in realistic positions for the internal walls of the terrace maybe? Must be made out of polystyrene then that would explain it!!! <_<

Neither is particularly good IMO.

As for the Theatre Severn - the Council went for the cheapest design and that's what we'll get. If only we spent a bit more on it and we would have a building to be proud of.

Though it's not that bad - the thing that gets me is how cramped it is in its location!

I think the £100,000 + spent on design fees to Levitt Bernstein, first for a more preferable design and location over the bus station, sadly discarded and then for the initial stages of NEV before they had had enough and left the project, have been totally wasted. The awards won in Stoke on Trent for a theatre extension by the same architects were a combination of forward thinking by the client (the council) working together with the architects with a moderate budget.

The developers own architects have taken over the design of NEV with the view that a multitude of different claddings would soften the structure and blend it into the historically important site. This, of course, will not happen. We're certainly not going to get any gongs for this building. Being called Theatre Severn, at least means for the majority of the country it will not be necessarily connected with Shrewsbury, the river Severn being a part of so many counties.

On the other hand the corner building at Old Coleham is a delight and I am sure will be receiving some sort of accolade for the stunning design and admirable use of a grotty and extremely awkward brownfield site.

I'm not going to snort with derision at the new building on Old Coleham - since I like it! A good job in a challenging brownfield site. Let's hope it's kept well maintained though.

What is that building in Old Coleham?

Five apartments, toc, though when the photo was taken not all of the glass had been installed.