New visualisations showing how Liverpool’s Unity Theatre will look when its redevelopment is complete have been revealed.

Theatregoers will benefit from improved front-of-house spaces at the Hope Place venue, which has been working with architects K2 and contractors Vivark to deliver the £845,000 Build Unity Better project.

Unity Theatre closed its doors during early January for work to take place and is due to reopen at the end of April, complete with a new, more accessible entrance and an enlarged bar, in which the theatre will be able to programme events and also offer as a space for artists, organisations and individuals to hire.

Matthew Linley, chief executive and artistic director at Unity Theatre, says: “This new front door is not just a front door. It’s a really visible symbol of what we want to achieve with Build Unity Better. We want to be able to welcome more audiences and more artists. This significant change will help us say ‘We’re a public building – this is your space’.

“The new Unity helps us to put our money where our mouth is when we say ‘we are open to all’.”

Improved soundproofing is also being included in the redevelopment, enabling Unity Theatre to use its two performance spaces to be used together more often.

Matthew adds: “It’s all about creating a more welcoming, more open and less confusing public area, a public area that our audiences will want to come into day and night.  The project will enable us to host more day time and evening activity and to encourage more people to use the building, more often.”

The theatre is currently continuing a fundraising drive to raise a final £50,000 required for fit-out, and will soon launch crowdfunding campaigns promising a series of rewards for donors, such as ‘money can’t buy’ experiences.

Funders PH Holt Foundation and Garfield Western Foundation have committed £10,000 and £50,000 respectively to the major capital development work, with social enterprise First Ark Group also adding to the project funding.

The funding follows an initial £435,000 investment from Arts Council England, £120,000 from Liverpool City Council, £30,000 from the Granada Foundation and £2000 from the Ravensdale Foundation as well as over £20,000 in individual donations from Unity Theatre supporters.

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