Phase I: Five Performance Studios
The new studios will be located at the far end of Upper Lizzies embedded in a wooded setting and adjoining the existing school courtyard buildings (behind the Clock House) and the backstage accommodation of the proposed new theatre.
The new 10m x 12m studios will be arranged side by side within two wings, accessed by a broad corridor situated on the south side of the building.
Phase II: Art Department and Sixth Form Centre
The existing art room will be demolished to make way for the proposed new theatre and a new art department will be created within a purpose built block to the north of the Markova Theatre (Lower Lizzies), where a new space will also serve as the stage scenery and props workshop.
The new block will be arranged on two floors providing a media room, fine art space and dark room on the first floor and Sixth Form study and common room centre, and theatre workshop on ground level. The workshop doors will open onto a service courtyard formed between the new art department and the adjacent Markova Theatre.
Phase III: A Performing Arts Theatre
The new 280 seat theatre will be situated (and intentionally masked) behind the front elevation of the Clock House with a glazed entrance foyer on the site of the existing art room which will be visible to visitors arriving at the School's front gate and extending beyond the auditorium with the glazed foyer overlooking the back lawn.
The theatre will be designed specifically for dance and musical theatre training and productions and, consequently, will have a much larger stage area and wing space to suit these art forms than the Markova Theatre, which will be dedicated to drama and music. The new theatre will contain foyer spaces that will also serve as informal teaching spaces and recreational areas for pupils, while backstage dressing room spaces will serve both the new theatre and the new performance studios.