Heywood Civic Rochdale
Heywood Civic Centre is a multi-purpose entertainment and meeting venue. It has fully equipped stage facilities for live music and theatre productions. It hosts a regular programme of events and a weekly programme of dance and leisure activities. Heywood Civic Centre is primarily a flexible venue dedicated to providing a wide range of affordable, and fun events for the surrounding community.
The building was originally designed as a c.400 seater venue, but there are many aspects of the support facilities that are not compatible with a modern facility. The stage and audience area are largely suitable. However, it is served by 4 ‘corners’ which house the various support facilities in either a basement or mezzanine level making access extremely awkward. It is also an ageing building with technical and environmental issues that with the right investment will be greatly improved.
One of the main aspirations of the project is to improve this accessibility. The project will also create a much more approachable, modern and dynamic frontage with a small extension providing more commercial viability and increasing its appeal at all times of the day to a more diverse audience.