Ceiling collapse at Apollo Theatre

[musht]

http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-12-19/rescue-underway-after-part-of-balcony-collapses-in-apollo-theatre-london/

[J Pearce]

Further reports seem to suggest that the dome over the stalls has collapsed, rather than a balcony collapse as first reported.

BBC News link

 

[gareth]

Impossible to know for certain - too many conflicting reports. Some say ceiling collapsed ; some say large numbers of people leaning on balcony rail caused front couple of feet of balcony to fall. Reports less than half an hour ago were saying that 30 were injured - now the number has gone up to 80, including a few serious. No point speculating on anything, as the exact details won't be fully known for a good while yet. All that can be said at this stage is that if any BR members are on the venue or show staff at the Apollo, or were in the audience tonight, I hope you're OK.

[J Pearce]

Curious' DSM tweeted all company and FOH are out safe. Fire service official statement here.

[scjb]

Thoughts with those affected. As Gareth says, waiting game to find out what happened.

[Bobbsy]

Moderation: Topic title changed from "balcony" to "ceiling" as it now seems firmly established that it was the heavy plaster ceiling that started it all (though there are still some reports it may have taken some of the balcony with it.

[Tom]

"Eye witness" on Radio 4 this morning saying that the auditorium layout, narrow gangways etc made evacuation difficult. Thought that people who were trapped was more to do with this than falling plaster.

 

Are we about to see a panic about evacuation procedures in old West End theatres?

[adam2]

[moderation]

Topics merged hence some duplicate comments.

[/moderation

 

Bit surprised that no one else has posted regarding this.

A large area of the ceiling collapsed, an area about 10 meters by 10 meters according to some reports.

 

During yesterdays evenings performance.

 

About 80 persons injured, some seriously, the police requisitioned a bus, some reports state more than one bus, to take the less seriously injured for treatment.

Although reports refer to the failure of a CEILING, the pictures show some substantial timbers have fallen, not just plaster, suggesting structural failure not just falling plaster.

 

It is most fortunate that no lives were lost in this sad accident.

I am sure that we all wish the injured a speedy recovery.

 

No point in me posting a link as this is widely reported on line and in the morning papers.

 

EDIT TO ADD I was in the general area and noted that the weather was very wet and windy, though not truly exceptional.

[adam2]

Pictures posted on line show that some fairly substantial pieces of timber have fallen, suggesting structural failure rather than just plaster falling.

Looking at the size and weight of some pieces, it is most fortunate that no lives have been lost.

 

I am sure that we all wish the injured a speedy recovery.

[the kid]

"Eye witness" on Radio 4 this morning saying that the auditorium layout, narrow gangways etc made evacuation difficult. Thought that people who were trapped was more to do with this than falling plaster.

 

Are we about to see a panic about evacuation procedures in old West End theatres?

 

 

To be fair while an old building it would conform to current regs would it not ? I would assume that evacuation would be hard because of chunks of roof not the layout.

[azlan]

"Eye witness" on Radio 4 this morning saying that the auditorium layout, narrow gangways etc made evacuation difficult. Thought that people who were trapped was more to do with this than falling plaster.

 

Are we about to see a panic about evacuation procedures in old West End theatres?

 

 

To be fair while an old building it would conform to current regs would it not ? I would assume that evacuation would be hard because of chunks of roof not the layout.

 

whilst obviously I do not know what actually happened yet, it would be quite possible that the building conformed to regulations, and that there is a suitable and achievable evacuation procedure in place. However such a process is often based on getting everybody out of the space within X time, and putting measures in place to make sure that the building will protect the people for at least that X time (fire curtains and firedoors, emergency lighting systems etc..) which would work fine for a conventional fire or similar event, but depending on how quickly the ceiling came down, it is entirely possible that this simply happened too quickly for the procedure to work.

 

also depending on exactly what happened, if the emergency lighting is triggered by the alarm system, this may not have activated initially, which would also hinder the evacuation.

[adam2]

Yes, emergency procedures and precautions for theatres are primarily against fire breaking out, and ensuring speedy escape if fire does occur.

 

In this unfortunate accident, it seems that the ceiling fell almost instantly, no evacuation procedure will allow persons to outrun a falling ceiling. Emergency lighting is most important in theatres or other large public buildings, but probably not relevant in this particular case. I would presume that the normal mains powered lighting was available, pictures posted on line seem to show this.

[Andrew C]

The first thing I thought was that our old theatre licence, based on the Westminster Council model, required an annual inspection of the ceiling. But with the changes to licencing a few years back, does anyone enforce this sort of inspection... unless something goes wrong?

[Tom]

"Eye witness" on Radio 4 this morning saying that the auditorium layout, narrow gangways etc made evacuation difficult. Thought that people who were trapped was more to do with this than falling plaster.

 

Are we about to see a panic about evacuation procedures in old West End theatres?

 

 

To be fair while an old building it would conform to current regs would it not ? I would assume that evacuation would be hard because of chunks of roof not the layout.

Absolutely, and you have to feel for the FOH staff who will (presumably) not have been trained for this sort of evac. Must have been a very confusing situation for all.

 

My point was that it would seem that members of the public felt as if their evacuation was hindered by the layout of the auditorium and narrowness of the exits.

I'm sure the building was up to regs, but obviously these older buildings are harder to evacuate than a modern one. You wouldn't build them like that now.

I am concerned that we may see a negative reaction against these older theatres.

[paulears]

Not just theatres suffer this kind of thing - ornate plasterwork in Stately Homes seems to suffer from these kinds of incident, fairly frequently. The one near where I live has some very heavy ornate plasterwork that they discovered is essentially screwed to bits of timber, cross laid on the ceiling timberwork. They discovered movement when they were re-gilding one, and only then did investigation reveal the somewhat 'basic' construction method used. I was told there were wires in the plaster moulding, that once originally raised on a block and tackle were wrapped around a beam and knotted! The elaborate proscenium wall with plasterwork and cherubs in a venue I know well seems to be held upright by a piece of two inch rope that has been carefully spliced and varnished. From the ground there is no evidence of this at all, but perched on a ladder, above the stage looking down, it's visible. I bet nobody knows it's there, or how 'structural' it actually is?

 

Perhaps an area where visual inspection isn't that useful. There are many wonderful ceilings around, but many are so old that the actual construction method is unknown. Thinking about it, how did people get plasterwork up there apart from hauling it, and once up, fixing would really have been quite tricky!