Stannah reach the right note for the Royal Opera House Workshop

The spectacular new workshop where magnificent sets and scenery for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, are built also features a Stannah lift. The 13-person, traction-drive Stannah Xtralift is installed to provide easy access within the office section of the Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop, situated on the High House Production Park in Purfleet, Essex. The Royal Opera House moved its production workshop to Thurrock as a result of needing to relocate due to the original site being required for the 2012 Olympic Games. The Bob and Tamar Production Workshop overlooks the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and the Thames and unobtrusively forms the centrepiece of a developing 14-acre park which will also be home to the National Skills Academy for backstage and offstage skills. At its highest point the Workshop building boasts a height of 19 metres in the set up area so that the sets and scenery can be put together before leaving the Workshop to ensure that everything is perfect. They are then deconstructed and transported to the Royal Opera House in central London. The Workshop stretches over a 400 square metre floor area and is faced in cedar-wood and boasts outstanding green credentials with its vast roof covered in growing sedum plants to soften the impact of the structure into the surrounding parkland and playing an important role in attracting insect and native wildlife to the area. The administration offices are on the first floor of the Workshop and the Stannah Xtralift provides essential access for staff and visitors to the elevated viewing gallery. The lift car is finished in satin stainless steel with light grey wall panels and a half-height rear wall mirror. The dark grey ceiling features ‘constellation’ lighting, reflecting in the smooth finish anthracite flooring. Mark Pursey, Head of Construction at the Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop comments: ‘Installing the StannahXtralift was an essential element of our building and we’re delighted with the outcome – a lift that blends discreetly into its surroundings and provides reliable access to all levels of the building.’ Nearby the Workshop is a cluster of old farm buildings dating from 1552, and including a 19th century barn which is now available for hire and is also used by the ROH Education team for workshops and classes. Three awards have recently been bestowed on the development in the 2011 RICS East of England Awards. The £60m High House Production Park in Purfleet claimed the ‘Project of the Year’ and ‘Regeneration’ categories whilst the restoration of the Grade II listed High House Farm, around which the park has been built, also picked up the ‘Building Conservation’ award.