Client: Northampton School for Girls
Type of works: supply of Retractable Seating System for School Theatre

To design and manufacture a custom Retractable Seating system to meet the schools specific requirments.

As part of the redevelopment, Hussey Seatway were chosen to provide new Retractable and Fixed seating for the Theatre, in total 630 Arts chairs were installed on Seatway TP platforms on the ground floor and fixed tiers on the balcony. The Arts chair was selected for the venue due to the outstanding levels of comfort provided by this chair, to ensure audience satisfaction throughout performances. The chairs were colour co-ordinated to match the facilities design theme.

This project raised many challenges for the Hussey Seatway design team. Firstly, due to the unusual shape of the building, tapered retractable seating units were required to ensure the seating capacity was maximised within the available space. Additionally due to the various different types of events the client intended to host, the seating units needed to be set in various formats. Therefore each seating bank features a locking system on the lower rows, which allows the operator to pre select which rows open prior to setting the units.

Throughout the process the Hussey Seatway team worked very closely with the school, to ensure the project was installed on time and within the cost budget.

Paul Parker, Assistant Head, said: "I think the seating is amazing - our theatre has been transformed and brought up beyond the standard of the rest of the school. I am happy to recommend your company and show people around the facility if you require it in the future".