Get-in door for the RST
-
Peter Wilson
Project Director - 13 August 2008
The main work on site continues to be the construction of the concrete structure that forms the new thrust stage auditorium by John Doyle. However, over the last week, a whole series of additional activities have been taking place. Our demolition contractor DSM returned to form the opening in the brick wall of the stage left wing that will become the get-in door for the RST: it has an important role to play in providing access to the fly tower during the construction project. This phase of the work, as well as the clearly visible construction of the walls and floor decks of the auditorium, includes the excavation by Doyles of the new basement under the thrust stage. Work, under the supervision of the project archaeologists AOC, began last week: nothing of archaeological interest has been discovered. The removed material from the new excavation is moved into the adjacent flytower basement then lifted out using the tower crane to the ground inside the gates where water can drain away before the material is removed from site.
The excavation work going on at Gate 2, adjacent to the Swan Library and Gallery building, involves excavating for, and installing an attenuation tank. This will delay rainwater from sudden storms from running off the buildings and paved landscaping into the surrounding drainage systems. Out of public view, behind the Swan Theatre by the riverside, work continues on the construction of the new ground slab for the dressing room wing. During the coming week the last major piece of excavation work begins: for the lift pit within the base of the new theatre tower.