Reiach and Hall wins approval for £10m film studio in Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall

Reiach and Hall Architects has been granted planning permission for a £10 million television and film studio within the vaults of Glasgow’s much-loved Kelvin HallThe Edinburgh-based practice was appointed by client Glasgow City Council last year to oversee the second phase of the building’s transformation. It follows PagePark’s £24 million first-phase redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall, which was completed in 2017.PagePark’s refurbishment created space for sporting facilities, a public café, children’s soft play area, a climbing centre and museum collections.The Category B-listed red sandstone Kelvin Hall is a building that looms large in any history of Glasgow during the 20th century. It was rebuilt in 1927 for the Great Exhibition after the earlier Kelvin Hall burned down and went on to host memorable cultural and sporting events including The Festival of Britain, shows by The Kinks and Ella Fitzgerald, Jim Watt’s world title fights, motor shows and the circus.But it later fell from favour and, when the city’s Transport Museum moved out, part of the building has remained empty.Reiach and Hall, working with project manager Gardiner & Theobald and sustainability adviser Atelier Ten, aims to deliver a fully structured studio box of about 1,000m² and approximately 3,500m² of associated back-of-house production infrastructure.The latter includes costume rooms, green rooms and workshops, as well as production and editing suites, meeting spaces and associated facilities.The studio will be available to let for independent producers and is expected to host a range of audience-centred screenings in a bid to re-establish the Kelvin Hall’s primary purpose as an entertainment venue with performance at its heart.The proposal also includes the refurbishment of the main entrance and development of front-of-house facilities, including an outlet for eating and drinking that would serve up to 500 people. The scheme is expected to be completed in 2022.Lyle Chrystie, director of Reiach and Hall, said the design draws inspiration from Lina Bo Bardi’s SESC Pompéia in Sao Paolo, which converted a factory into a civic space.The vision for Kelvin Hall was a space ‘bathed in daylight that can accept lots of different functions’, he said. ‘The community can come in and use it on a rainy Sunday, there can be a market pop-up but you’ve also got all the activity of a TV studio.’The studio is being delivered in partnership with Screen Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland.In 2017 Reiach and Hall won the AJ100 Building of the Year Award, along with Hall & Michael Laird Architects, for their City of Glasgow College City Campus.