Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, is a replacement of the 19th century building that was previously home to this Liverpool landmark. The BREEAM ‘Excellent’ building provides a 406-seat theatre that sits on carefully designed foundations, due to the discovery of archaeological remains.

Exposed in-situ concrete piers and beams were used on the second floor and board-marked concrete walls and columns are a feature on the lower floor. This use of concrete, as part of a heavyweight building design, enables the benefits of thermal mass to be exploited, part of a strategy that utilises natural ventilation. 

The exposed concrete seen in the foyers has a creamy colour, due to the use of ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as a cement replacement. GGBS is a by-product from the iron and steel industry, with lower embodied carbon than cement. On this project, recycled materials also included salvaged bricks and shuttering timber from the formwork was also used as a finishing material for wall linings and sliding doors.