• Architecture
  • Arts

Bristol Beacon, Phase 2,
Bristol

Info

 

Project Details:

The reimagination and restoration of Bristol Beacon sees this Grade II listed concert hall transformed.

Client: Bristol City Council, Bristol Music Trust

Construction Value: P&C

Completion: 2009 (phase 1) and 2023 (phase 2)

Location: Bristol

Awards:

  • Architecture Today, Schüco Excellence Awards 2024, Health, Culture and Leisure Buildings: Winner
  • British Construction Industry Awards 2024, Retroft Project of the Year: Winner
  • LABC Building Excellence Awards 2024, Best Public or Community Building: Winner
  • 2025 Civic Trust Awards: Regional Finalist
  • 2025 Selwyn Goldsmith Awards for Universal Design: Regional Finalist
  • AJ Architecture Awards 2024, Cultural Building: Shortlisted
  • AJ Retrofit Awards 2024, Conservation and Historic: Shortlisted
  • BD Architect of the Year Awards 2024, Public Building: Shortlisted
  • Mix Awards 2024, Public Sector Project of the Year: Shortlisted
  • Planning Awards 2019, Award for Best Use of Heritage in Placemaking: Shortlisted

Images: Tim Crocker, Chris Cooper, Bristol Music Trust / ShotAway

Cultural value
Heritage context
Acoustic excellence
Retrofit
Refurbishment
Low energy use
Access for all
Education space
Social value
Community engagement
Collaboration

Where we started

Following our work on the new foyer building, completed in 2009, this is second and final phase of a project that promotes Bristol Beacon as an exemplar of international quality within the music industry. The original fabric of the Grade II listed building has been repaired, restored and upgraded, conserving the Byzantine Victorian architecture whilst adapting it for modern audiences and operations.

The project’s programmatic needs were extensive, including: the renewal of existing music performance halls and backstage areas; the remodelling of secondary spaces, such as the underused cellars, to introduce new music education studios and club-style third venue; and the insertion of new AV, stage engineering and upgraded building services. Additionally, a new restaurant has been incorporated within the historic colonnade, complementing the venues with a characterful dining space for visitors and audiences.

We have been careful to retain the historic character of the building, working sensitively within the constraints of the exiting fabric, to create a space which is both respectful to its heritage and environmentally sustainable, while bringing the halls within up to standards that can compete with venues on an international stage. This transformation will mean that Bristol Beacon can continue to be enjoyed, loved and, most importantly, well-used by everyone, for generations to come.

Mark Lewis, Associate Director at Levitt Bernstein

Phase 2 works includes the restoration and of the Grade II listed building's Byzantine façade.

Beacon Hall has been transformed into a flexible 1,800 performance space.

Bristol now enjoys an unrivalled combination of inspiring spaces for music together with inclusive, welcoming and beautiful public areas. I am delighted with every element of the new facilities, designed with a true understanding of our needs and built to inspire generations of Bristolians.

Louise Mitchell, chief executive of Bristol Beacon

Design

With a focus on acoustic excellence, sustainability and heritage, Bristol Beacon required a bold and imaginative strategy to ensure it would excel in use. The Beacon Hall offers near-perfect acoustical conditions for the enjoyment of both amplified and non-amplified sound for audiences and musicians. Flexibility is designed into the acoustic strategy for high sound quality, by adapting for different uses and allowing all genres of music to be performed in optimal conditions. Additionally, the transformation has delivered a reduction in sound transmission between halls and practically removed intrusion from external noise, enabling complete ’pin-drop’ silence. To achieve this, we collaborated with world renowned acousticians Sound Space Vision to implement a creative design that delivers excellent acoustic conditions in each space.

Bristol Beacon encompasses three main performance halls:

Beacon Hall is one of the three main spaces that have been restored and refurbished.

Cut-away diagram showing phase 1 and phase 2 of Bristol Beacon.

Beacon Hall

A professional concert hall with capacity for around 1,800 (2,200 with stalls standing) – is a first-class, industry-leading facility. Designed as a contemporary intervention, we have built a new flexible and adaptable interior within the 1867 original masonry walls. New timber-lined balconies, shaped to optimise room acoustics, with trifurcating steel columns to support the upper balconies and technical decks deliver a unique and dramatic visual signature that combines heritage with world-leading acoustics and 21st century technology.

The new interior has been nested into the building’s Victorian shell. Taking cues from the original pilasters and arched window openings, the design references the visual memory of the historic architecture. The adaptability of the new interior, through variable acoustics, removable seating and access for lighting, makes it one of the most flexible and accessible concert halls in the country.

Lantern Hall

The Lantern Hall has been much altered during the building’s history, having been converted to a theatre, bar, and ad hoc second venue since 2009. Wit a capacity of 300 people (500 standing), it is designed for more intimate concerts. We completed external restoration works that reinstate the original architectural composition of the Colston Street façade by removing later additions, reopening the colonnade to its original width of seven bays and reopening the windows to the Lantern Hall.

At ground level, the former box-office space is now better purposed as a public restaurant and cocktail bar which creates an activated ‘shop front’ with a new screen of frameless glazing positioned behind the stone columns.

The Lantern Hall is designed for more intimate concerts.

An additional performance space or cabaret-style club venue for 100-250 people.

The Weston Stage

The atmospheric former bonded cellars beneath Beacon Hall have been carefully converted into a suite of creative spaces for music education, practice rooms, library, recording studio, digital music lab and a new cellar venue for smaller, more intimate concerts and emerging artists. This third hall is an additional performance space or cabaret-style club venue for 100-250 people that can also be used for rehearsal, education or break-out space.

The original fabric of the Grade II listed building has been repaired, restored and upgraded.

The Beacon Hall has a new flexible and adaptable interior within the 1867 original masonry walls.

A new restaurant has been incorporated within the historic colonnade.

The mail hall has a capacity for 1,800 spectators.

Core team

Irene Craik

Director

Mark Lewis

Studio Director

Victoria Turner

Director

Clare Murray

Studio Director

Thomas Böhringer

Senior Architect

Mark Fineberg

Senior Architect

Clara Bailo

Senior Architect

Luis Arvelo Marquez

Project Architect

Robert Gilbert

Project Leader

Axel Burrough

Consultant