We refurbished the Ambassador Cinema in Woking, which had not been upgraded since it opened 25 years ago. This project was a significant collaboration between the Ambassador Theatre Group and Woking Borough Council, as part of a town-wide regeneration. The site forms part of a major shopping centre development in The Peacock, and houses a cinema and live theatre.
The refurbishment saw the cinema stripped out, and converted to a new high quality seven screen cinema. Substantial demolitions were required within the concrete built structure prior to the complete remodelling of the space. It also saw the introduction of a “Media and Learning Space”.
The new cinema, named the Nova Cinema, has a capacity of 950 seats across the seven screens including one luxury screen. We installed full stadium seating, new lobbies, bars and café style concessions, as well as new toilet facilities and back of house facilities. The foyer incorporates red velvet whilst the bar includes zinc, glass and tiles. The void to the luxury screens upstairs includes a chandelier of film stage lighting.
We worked closely with the Shopping Centre Management Team and the adjacent tenants to minimise the disruption to them, and Shopping Centre customers.
As we started work on the 20 week programme, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We, therefore, closed the site for the safety of our team, our client and our suppliers. We re-opened the site five months later, ensuring that it was COVID-19 secure. Despite difficulties with the supply of some building materials, we met the 20 week programme.
