Cambridge theatre submits plans for rooftop venue

A Grade II listed theatre building in Cambridge has unveiled plans to build a new 200-seater rooftop studio theatre.

City centre venue the Cambridge Arts Theatre also plans to refurbish its main 666-seat auditorium.

In planning documents submitted to Cambridge City Council, the theatre said that the new space will enable it to increase its repertoire of incoming shows.

It will also provide "the opportunity for a variety of different endeavours, including in-house productions, collaborations with university and educational faculties, as well as facilitating a more diverse range of shows and performance types".

The studio will replace a disused restaurant. Proposed building work will include the demolition of a sloping glass roof to be replaced by a flat roof with solar panels "sited where practical".

The plans state that the new rooftop venue will have "a distinctive chimney and modelled brick facade", with bricks of a "warm grey hue" in order to "sit comfortably with the historic Cambridge gault bricks".