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new building for creativity, learning and community with revitalised back of house spaces
Haworth Tompkins has completed Backstage at The Old Vic, a major new extension to one of London’s most treasured and historic theatres. Designed as a vibrant civic space and an exemplar of sustainable and inclusive architecture, Backstage marks the beginning of the next chapter in the 200-year story of this iconic cultural landmark.
Built on a prominent site at the crossing of Waterloo Road, The Cut and Baylis Road, The Old Vic has stood since 1816 as a beacon of creativity and community. With Backstage, the theatre expands its reach and reaffirms its mission: “To invigorate, inspire and open doors through world-class theatre for all.”
The new ‘Backstage’ building is a welcoming destination for the local community and a much-needed expansion of the theatre’s working and engagement spaces. It includes a triple-height café and bar, script libary, a dedicated Writers’ Room, a new green room, a Clore Learning Centre, the conversion of the rehearsal room into a flexible studio space, and an event space with a dedicated roof terrace. The existing back of house has also been remodelled to enable a fully accessible stage door, upgraded dressing rooms, staff offices, toilets, showers and cycle provision, ensuring the facilities for permanent staff and visiting actors are greatly improved, and accessible.
Backstage is the result of a decade of detailed conversations, collaboration, consultation and careful construction. The result is a building that is colourful and convivial; a space that can host the Old Vic’s extraordinary outreach programme and where you feel at home at any time of the day. It is conceived as a place for creativity, learning and for the community to come together with the new extension supporting every part of the theatre’s life - from writing and rehearsal, to education, outreach and performance.
Sustainability sits at the heart of the building’s ethos. By prioritising the use of recycled materials, a low embodied carbon structure and passive energy systems with a forward-looking building, built to be an exemplar in accessibility for all, serving artists, audiences and the community for generations to come.
The structure is primarily composed of low-embodied-carbon European spruce glulam timber and solid timber floors, engineered for disassembly and reuse at the end of life. Recycled materials feature throughout - from salvaged brickwork to the façade’s brise soleil crafted from repurposed redundant theatre barn-door lighting. Natural ventilation, air source heat pumps, and passive cooling strategies dramatically reduce operational energy demand. Together, these strategies deliver a model of low-carbon construction that reflects The Old Vic’s wider environmental ambition.
For the first time in The Old Vic’s 200-year history, the stage door and back-of-house areas are now fully accessible. The new Backstage building introduces step-free connections across all floors, accessible dressing rooms and rehearsal studios, an inclusive green room, and a rooftop terrace designed for all visitors, including wheelchair users to enjoy panoramic views of the London skyline. Every detail, from lighting and acoustics to circulation and signage, has been carefully designed to support all users and visitors, ensuring that Backstage is a genuinely inclusive home for creativity.
The remodelling of the back of house spaces was completed over a 12 month period and the new build Backstage extension constructed over a 22-month period, both by Rise Contracts, working closely with specialist fabricators and craftsmen.
The result is a finely detailed, deeply collaborative project that continues Haworth Tompkins’ long-standing exploration of how architecture can support the cultural and civic life of London.
