The Pound Arts Centre in Corsham has recently undergone a £1.2 million refurbishment to create an arts hub in the area fit for the 21st century.

With a fully equipped auditorium, a studio theatre, rehearsal rooms, a café and gallery the new look arts centre offers first class facilities for people living in and around North Wiltshire.

The historic grade II listed building was originally built as a school.

What is now the main auditorium was built in the 1820s (possibly a conversion of an earlier building) as Lady Methuen’s School for Girls with 40 children paying school fees of one old penny a week and a further 30 educated for free. In 1893 new school buildings were constructed on adjoining land for the Corsham British School for boys. In 1923 the two buildings were combined to form the Corsham County Junior School, which remained on the site until 1994 when the school moved to new premises.

Soon after the buildings were transferred to North Wiltshire District Council and became used as a Centre for the Arts.

The new look Arts Centre is designed for both professional and community arts and includes new lighting and sound facilities for the auditorium and studio theatre designed by theatre consultants Drama by Design and installed by Stage Electrics.

Drama by Design worked with the users of the centre (both professional and local community) to design lighting, sound and audio visual systems for the main auditorium (theatre), studio theatre and foyer/reception areas. It was essential that these could be used by a wide range of users and that the spaces could quickly and easily be changed from one type of use to another in a very short space of time. As the buildings are listed our design also had to integrate with the architecture and ensure compliance with listed building consent.

The main auditorium space incorporates a flexible drapes system with dual ‘U’ shaped perimeter curtain tracks and a centre overlap track, high quality sound system that can be utilised for both theatre and productions and Dolby 5.1 cinema and a computerised stage lighting system. It also features a comprehensive theatre and conference cabling infrastructure.