BOA Stage & Screen Production Academy
BOA Stage & Screen
BOA Stage & Screen Production Academy revitalises a neglected technical college on the outskirts of Birmingham’s city centre. As an extension of Birmingham Ormiston Academy’s campus, the 400-pupil sixth form academy provides specialist media facilities for vocationally orientated students wishing to pursue a career in television, film, theatre, and online platforms.
The refurbishment scope comprised an internal reconfiguration to repurpose the building from a derelict state into creative and technical production with camera and stage lighting studios, a TV recording studio, post-production galleries, and other supporting subjects in costume design, hair and make-up salon, and dedicated workshops towards set and prop design. Alongside the practical, more traditional classrooms including a SEN unit are also provided to focus on the administrative and management sectors, and curriculum-based subjects.
Images courtesy of © Martin Cleveland Photography
Structural interventions involved forming new openings into the existing fabric, and by removing steel columns and mezzanine floors in the workshop wings with new beams spanning overhead, this decongested the room to achieve larger, dynamic and more flexible double-height spaces.
The pre-construction design stages took place during COVID-19 lockdown in entirety, where subsequent remote working unveiled surprising benefits, like ad hoc online coordination meetings whilst screensharing 3D models and surveys as tools in parallel.
Survey courtesy of SI Sealy
Aside from removing a largely defunct existing weather vane to the central courtyard, external works were deliberately lightweight to keep within the constraints of a tight programme. Other challenges were to find cost-effective solutions afforded by the DfE framework to provide a conducive learning environment for young adults eager to join the media.
Our Team
- Robert Arthur
- Chris Mannings
- James Taylor
Project Team
- Client: EFA (Education Funding Agency)
- Client: Birmingham Ormiston Academy
- Project Management: Kier Construction Eastern & Midlands
- Cost Consultant: Kier Construction Eastern & Midlands
- Structural Engineer: Hexa Consulting
- Services Engineer: Couch Perry & Wilkes
- FF&E Consultant: Chalk Creatives
- Acoustician: MACH Acoustics
- Fire Consultant: Cundall
- Contractor: Kier Construction Eastern & Midlands
- Photography: Martin Cleveland Photography
