A new season of music and drama for Sevenoaks School

Founded in 1432, Sevenoaks School for secondary students is situated on an 100-acre campus half an hour from Central London. The recently-completed Performing Arts Centre was officially opened with an inaugural concert on Tuesday 27th April. The new centre provides outstanding music and drama facilities for students, including a concert hall, theatre, recital room, drama studio, music rooms, teaching rooms and a recording studio. 

Stage Technologies and Delstar Engineering provided integrated automation and engineering systems for The Pamoja Hall, the recital room and the Ordovksy-Tanaevsky Drama Studio. The stage of The Pamoja Hall can accommodate the school's 70-piece orchestra, behind which the school choir can be positioned; the orientation of the hall uses the natural slope of the site to create the rake for audience seating of around 450.

The machinery includes hoists to move a spot bar (which uses moving lights to avoid the difficulty of setting lights over raked seating) and two projection screens for lectures and video presentations. Control is provided by a simple handheld pendant that plugs into an operator control station. Other elements of the installation include stage curtain tracks, flame-retardant studio drapes, tubular barrel studio grid and fixed lighting bars.

The new centre and its high-tech equipment will enable the drama and music departments to offer a versatile programme of events and it's hoped that students, teachers and alumni alike will benefit, as well as their audiences of course. Good luck with the summer season Sevenoaks!

Thumbnail credit: Pamoja Hall, May 2010, photographer David Merewether copyright Sevenoaks School