Alexandra Palace

As part of the recent restoration project inside the former world-famous BBC studios, the previously derelict Victorian era east wing has been brought back to its former glory by construction giant Willmott Dixon. The refurbished wing, which the BBC leased from 1935 until 1956, will accommodate an immersive birthplace-of-TV experience. Fitting; as the first public television transmissions were made from here in 1936. The wing is looking to create a popular tourist attraction for all the family, as the original “people’s palace” was intended to be.

Work included restoring the ceiling, which had not been touched since the 1890’s. The entire floor was lifted, relevelled then re-laid using all 1200 floor boards. The resulting restoration will create a flat space for flexibility, to accommodate all manner of events, where seating and staging can be added.

With this in mind, auditorium seating and staging specialists CPS Manufacturing Co were appointed to supply the orchestra pit infill. Their brief was to provide some rigid and lightweight panels to form a lift shaft between their demountable platforms.

As Design and Estimating Executive, Roger McCreadie explained “After exploring several routes and options we discovered Kanya UK. Steve Taylor’s prompt visit, technical expertise and product experience was of great value in assisting in the successful delivery of this part of the project, as well as being within budget”.

In describing the specification for the project, Roger added “We had initially been looking at constructing the panels from softwood and cladding in plywood but this was presenting several obstacles in both design and manufacture. The aluminium framed panels were easily built by production operatives with no prior experience of the system and this led to a small order being placed for another part of the same project”.

The aluminium framed panels were easily built by production operatives with no prior experience of the system

Roger is delighted with the Kanya aluminium build system. ”The system seems to be robust and rigid and could lead to us using your products in one or two other areas of bespoke manufacture”.

The panels needed to be precise to fit within the void, and were fitted in time for the opening performance, the BBC proms!