Ceiling collapse at Apollo Theatre

[themadhippy]

we went through the comments of the Daily Mail online report, absolute comedy gold. The best was one that manged to get UKIP, benefits and immigrants into one sentence

what no mention of collapsing ceilings causing cancer and killing lady Di.

[bigclive]

Having been up above many ornate ceilings like this and observed the seemingly random looking mish-mash of wood I can understand why some might think it's just bodged together. But it's not. There's a solid wooden structure and then supporting struts and braces are taken from that down to the plaster frame itself where an array of laths support the structure evenly over its surface. It's certainly no more mish-mash than the clutter of wires and strips of metal that hold up the false ceiling that will be above many of your heads right now.

 

I don't think it's that uncommon for an additional decorative feature to occasionally fail, but this is the first time I've come across such a significant structural failure. I'm thinking that there's going to be a lot of inspecting going on, and possibly the addition of at least a few safety wires on the most vulnerable bits in a lot of old theatres after this incident. But I'm sure a technical investigation will be made into the exact cause of this incident. It should be quite interesting.

 

Contrary to other comments, trusses are not anchored into ornate plasterwork. Small holes will be made through the plaster and fixings will be made onto structural supports above that are rated or can be augmented to handle any extra weight imposed. This is where the laser plumbs come very handy for ensuring that a hole can be made just big enough to give a little clearance around the suspension wire.

 

In the bad old days there were full catalogues of ornate pre-manufactured plaster sections for interior use and carved stonework for exterior use. You started with a fairly plain building and then added on all your Gotham City extras onto the inside and outside. They still do this, but if you look at places like Las Vegas the very ornate buildings tend to be decorated with hollow fibreglass shells. These are supposed to be fire retarded, but a quick search on Google will reveal instances where ornate fibreglass claddings have been ignited by adjacent welding.

 

I dread to think of the cost of getting a dome reinstated. I honestly think that in a case where it's been damaged beyond reasonable repair then a new ceiling should be put in that is fundamentally modern materials with a little bit of extra flair to match the style of the rest of the building. Getting a company that does enforced historical restorations is just writing out a blank cheque to freeloaders.

 

PS: I like the fact that just as I posted the bit above I saw a Bluerooom advert from a company selling polyurethane mouldings.

[IRW]

There seem to be a couple of pictures floating about of the stalls, post-incident- has anybody come across one that actually looks upwards towards the ceiling?

 

The BBC 'before & after' one unhelpfully has a full auditorium pic next to the widely circulated barndoor-hanging-from-fixture picture.

 

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71876000/jpg/_71876285_theatre_ceiling_collapse_624.jpg

[kerry davies]

Locker and Riley are the boyo's. They also did some foyer work at the Palladium.

[Ynot]

Hmmm...

 

Seems Lord ALW, the previous owner of the Apollo, has some strong opinions on the matter...

 

 

http://www.itv.com/news/search/?q=apollo

 

 

 

[kerry davies]

On the sale of 4 theatres to Nimax in 2005, after failing to remedy the faults for 5 years, Lord Lloyd-Webber announced;

"I am thrilled to be able to say that these theatres are not being sold to the highest bidder, but to theatre professionals who will continue to administer them in the way that is in the best interests of the theatres themselves and the West End in general.

 

"Max is a wonderful philanthropist and long term business associate and I have the highest regard for Nica's work. Both have been supporters of London theatre for many years.

He claimed that he only sold to Nimax to raise £10M to refurbish his other theatres. He made a huge deal about theatreland being protected by "sharing the load". He sold what he now calls a demolition site as a functioning theatre.

[the kid]

On the sale of 4 theatres to Nimax in 2005, after failing to remedy the faults for 5 years, Lord Lloyd-Webber announced;

"I am thrilled to be able to say that these theatres are not being sold to the highest bidder, but to theatre professionals who will continue to administer them in the way that is in the best interests of the theatres themselves and the West End in general.

 

"Max is a wonderful philanthropist and long term business associate and I have the highest regard for Nica's work. Both have been supporters of London theatre for many years.

He claimed that he only sold to Nimax to raise £10M to refurbish his other theatres. He made a huge deal about theatreland being protected by "sharing the load". He sold what he now calls a demolition site as a functioning theatre.

 

 

Not quite he said that in 2000 as said in the itv peice

In 2000, Lord Lloyd-Webber, who owned sold the Apollo to Nimax in 2005, told The Times: "The Apollo in particular is a shocking place.

 

"I suggested that both it and the Lyric should be knocked down and replaced by top-quality modern theatres."

[itiba]

Sadly a similar event of falling masonry happened just up the road from me a couple of years back at a restaurant.

 

I seem to recall visiting a west end theatre at some point (prob 4-7 years ago) with a 5m by 5m section of truss with netting taut under the dome - I can't remember which theatre it was but it would be a real shame if this was implemented across many theatres although the discussion about control measures for mitigating this type of risk will certainly be quite interesting - particularly as the ceiling cert was only 3 months old.

[gibbothegreat]

Before its recent refurbishment, the Usher Hall in Edinburgh also had some plaster fall from the auditorium ceiling - luckily at a time when the hall was empty - and was netted for a fair while

[Peter Tovey]

Locker and Riley are the boyo's. They also did some foyer work at the Palladium.

 

Hayles and Howe are the other likely candidates for the repair work, I should think. Have done a lot of theatre work, including some repairs for me.

[birt]

this is quite interesting

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/12/why-so-many-londons-historic-theaters-are-bad-physical-shape/7937/#.UrW8gkHfL8A.facebook

[musht]

On the sale of 4 theatres to Nimax in 2005, after failing to remedy the faults for 5 years, Lord Lloyd-Webber announced;

"I am thrilled to be able to say that these theatres are not being sold to the highest bidder, but to theatre professionals who will continue to administer them in the way that is in the best interests of the theatres themselves and the West End in general.

 

"Max is a wonderful philanthropist and long term business associate and I have the highest regard for Nica's work. Both have been supporters of London theatre for many years.

He claimed that he only sold to Nimax to raise £10M to refurbish his other theatres. He made a huge deal about theatreland being protected by "sharing the load". He sold what he now calls a demolition site as a functioning theatre.

 

 

Not quite he said that in 2000 as said in the itv peice

In 2000, Lord Lloyd-Webber, who owned sold the Apollo to Nimax in 2005, told The Times: "The Apollo in particular is a shocking place.

 

"I suggested that both it and the Lyric should be knocked down and replaced by top-quality modern theatres."

 

Times is behind a paywall, but a search for `lloyd webber apollo` on website brings back no results out of 72 hits for the year 2000.

 

Guess is depends if your buying or selling Andrew....

 

Grauniad of 2005 mentions the putting up for sale of the 4 theatres, he had bought them 5 years earlier from Stoll Moss.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/18/arts.artsnews

 

Lot of rain fell very fast just before the incident, accompanied by wind that can drive rain up hill and round normally waterproof parts.

[ImagineerTom]

ALW brought Stoll Moss theatres by acquiring rediculous amounts of debt and then basically sat on them not spending a penny (as he was paying a fortune in interest) on upgrading or improving them. After a few years he started offloading parts of stoll moss (they owned several ticketing and associated business's as well as the theatres) and started using the money from the sales to pay for the refurbishment of the remaining properties. The venues he sold to nimax were all in shocking condition and as was widely reported at the time of the sale he had sold them cheap so that he wouldn't have to pay for the refurbishment - he also sold them to a philanthropic millionaire (Nimax is Nica Burns, a producer and Max Weitzenhoffer - a ridiculously rich businessman) who it was widely assumed would be pumping some of his own cash in to doing them up. It's quite clear now this didn't happen as all the nimax venues are in very run-down condition (the duchess theatre is an embarrassment) and even the few stoll-moss venues ALW still owns are hardly in tip-top condition.

 

Its worth comparing the investments made by Nymax / ALW by those made by Cameron Mackintosh in the theatres he owns - every one of them is maintained and refurbished regularly both in front of and behind the curtain and looks as good today as they did when they were built. ATG (again backed by serious money) have thus far only done the minimum maintenance & improvements to their venues...

[Roderick]

this is quite interesting

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2013/12/why-so-many-londons-historic-theaters-are-bad-physical-shape/7937/#.UrW8gkHfL8A.facebook

And we should also consider the current use of these ageing theatres in a way that was never intended or expected when they were build. I am mostly thinking about low frequency audio at levels unimaginable 100 years ago. Or the increased structural pressure caused by heavy sets, lighting and audio equipment.

[musht]

low frequency audio at levels unimaginable 100 years ago. Or the increased structural pressure caused by heavy sets, lighting and audio equipment.

How loud can an uanmplified orchestra hit, with kettle drums, or original thunder roll effects ?

 

Flying heavy sets goes back a lot more than 100 years.

 

Main problem is still theatre owners, then and now, have deep pockets and short arms...

Edited December 22, 2013 by musht