WLT Building Works - a Diary

Photos and information will be regularly updated, so keep an eye on this blog to follow the progress as we march ever closer to being able to re-open!

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1 March: After 4-month closure waiting for final final permits to come through, the work was able to resume and workmen were back on site today . Preparation continued for the concrete slab to be poured.

(photo Shirley Sydenham)

4 March : ready for concrete (photo BCT Construction Grp)

9 March : concrete poured. You can see where the corridor and bathrooms will be!

(photo BCT Construction Grp)

11 March: preparation for framing, and also preparation for internal walls to be demolished.

(photo BCT Construction Grp)

20 March: after asbestos removal, our own 'A Team' demolished the old dressing room and the old foyer bar... everything out including the kitchen sink. Well, two of them actually!

(photo Peter Newling)

26 March: the steel frames (made to measure off site) arrived and were craned in.

(photos BCT Construction Grp)

28 March : the installation of the frames has begun. (photo BCT Constructions)

Also the cabinetry for kitchen and FOH service area has begun offsite by Kulija.

31 March: what a difference a month makes! The frames are in for the internal walls (you can see the bathrooms) and they've begun installing the frames of the external wall and windows. You can see how high that external wall is. (photos BCT Constructions)

12 April: Framing is done and now measurements have been taken for the roof. Our wonderful demolition team (the A Team) will be on site in a matter of days to relocate the contents of the paint shed and then to demolish the shed itself. You may not have noticed the paint shed before: it formed part of the separation between the courtyard and the backstage smaller courtyard. It will be replaced with a roller door in due course.

(photos BCT Constructions)

This is the external wall along courtyard: see corridor, bathrooms beyond.

The angled bit on the left is entry to foyer.

Taken from inside the foyer looking towards the gate.

19 April: On Saturday 17/4 our amazing demolition team took down the paint shed that formed a separation between the main courtyard and the backstage courtyard. Following this, preparation of the revealed wall was done in order to cut backstage doorways. The preliminary roofing work began over the frame of the new build. (photos BCT Constructions)

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1. Exposed wall after shed removal soon to have door cut through.

2. Preliminary roofing over the new build: corridor and bathrooms.

27 April: No, they're not doing advanced macrame... the new bio box wiring just looks like it!

After this bit by the contractors, the old bio box, a cubby tucked away in the wings, will be demolished by our 'A Team'. Then our Technical Manager, Roger Forsey, begins the lengthy task of connecting everything and installing the systems that make stage lights and audio work! (photo BCT Constructions)

From the actors' courtyard (paint shed has gone) looking towards foyer and corridor beyond... the ladders are half in half out of bio box (closer) and foyer (further).

18 May: There's been a slight lag in the postings... apologies... a break-in and burglary with resultant aftermath has caused the lack of postings... however the work continued! A new doorway into the theatre, giving easier access, has been created. Work is slower than it would be because of the timber shortage, one aftermath of the bushfires, and the need for steel frames instead. They have to be ordered and made to size, and it is a slower job to insulate them. Roger Forsey is overseeing the wiring required for productions, ensuring the bio box is operational and connected to sound system and stage lights. To us mere mortals it looks like advanced macrame, but his problem is replacing a great deal of stolen equipment that the wires connect to.

Photos Melanie Rowe and Roger Forsey : Click on the arrow > to move the photos on

1. Just after the break in, 'A Team' members demolished the old bio box, which was little more than a cramped cubby. Behind them inventory is being taken to determine which of the appliances and fittings purchases have gone.

2. The skeleton of the bio box-to-be, utilising the old dressing room. And wires!

3. New door into theatre waiting doors, batts and wall.