BEAM brings civic pride to a historic UK market town

A 1970s theatre has been transformed into a multi-use civic space in the town of Hertford, thanks to sensitive, innovative design interventions.

The cultural offer in Hertford, a town twenty miles north of London, has been greatly enhanced thanks to the reinvention of a tired 1970s building. Rebranded as BEAM, the former Hertford Theatre has undergone a radical redevelopment by architects Bennetts Associates with interior design by Citizens Design Bureau.

The project comprises a new theatre, cinemas, rehearsal and social spaces in the centre of Hertford and can be found in between the site of a medieval castle and a bend in the River Lea. This create a revived cultural focal point for the town, where once stood an anonymous municipal building.

Bennetts Associates’ strategy was to retain and refurbish the existing structure, with a series of new brick-clad blocks wrapping sensitively around the main auditorium. These new volumes are where visitors can find the cinemas, dance studio, activity room and foyer spaces, all arranged around a central courtyard-inspired space, featuring concrete floors and exposed brickwork.

Flexibility is at the heart of BEAM’s offer. The event spaces are intended to be used during the day, as well as into the evening. And the new studio auditorium is suitable for smaller live acts and performances while larger productions can be hosted in the main auditorium.

Meanwhile, the plaza-style foyer with its riverside-café bar affords views to the River Lea and Hertford Castle, strengthening the connection between old and new. The geometry of the new interventions responds to the scale and grain of the historic town, and the irregular edges of the site; harmonising with the natural surroundings.

Once a major market town where, in centuries past, the nobility could unwind and enjoy country life and sport, BEAM sets the tone for Hertford’s future. The building forms part of a wider urban strategy to open up the riverside to the public and to appeal a wide spectrum of the community from parent and baby groups to digital nomads, as well as theatre goers and film lovers. It is hoped it will serve as inspiration to other local councils to revitalise their civic assets.