The business-led feasibility study identifies innovative ways to improve Wyeside’s offer to its community, including creating an additional cinema studio and expanding the catering and bar facilities.

Wyeside Arts Centre is an independent charity occupying a Grade II listed building from 1877 on the banks of the River Wye. It is a presenting venue for live and visual arts, cinema, and live satellite broadcasts. The building includes two auditoriums (the Castle Cinema and the Market Theatre), a gallery, bar and foyer. Originally established by the Builth Public Hall & Market Committee as a place of gathering, by 1911 the original Assembly Rooms were converted into a ‘Kino Cinema’ showing pictures by Welsh filmmakers. From this point onwards the building’s use and incremental conversion followed the evolution of modern cinema, of which this latest planned redevelopment is the next chapter.

The ground floor is to be opened up, unlocking its potential as a public-facing space, improving access and visibility. The creation of a new gathering place above the Market Theatre will re-establish the former 19th century Assembly Rooms in a rooftop location with unparalleled views of the River Wye. Designed as a flexible space with a bar, it will be used for pop-up events and trade fairs, exhibitions and private events, and also double-up as a small performance space for comedy and jazz. Its inflected roof references the original Market Hall gables lost in the 1970s.

The original storefront arches with awnings will be reinstated, making good on previous alterations and allowing the inside to be much more visible to the street once again. The street-facing spaces will accommodate a public foyer with box office and bar, and a flexible community studio that will be open plan to the foyer area, making it public-facing and accessible, with full-height double doors to transform it into a discrete space for community and commercial events. The whole of the ground floor area will be used to display local produce, including food, arts and crafts.

On the lower ground floor, the scheme will soundproof the Market Theatre and the surrounding areas, to enable adjacent spaces to be used simultaneously and put to better community and revenue-making use before, during and after performances. A new events bar will occupy the original cellar-like arches behind the Market Theatre’s retractable seating rake, aiming to attract younger audiences again, following the demise of the weekly community disco. It will function as a standalone events space as well as a bar serving the Market Theatre.

A new stair and lift core provides a new vertical circulation in the centre of the building dividing the existing Castle Cinema into two raked cinema studios installed with high definition digital screens, offering audiences a choice of screening in an intimate cinema setting.

Since its inception in the 1970s Wyeside Arts Centre’s objectives have been to provide the community the best in arts and entertainment; to create a warm and inclusive environment, welcoming people of all ages and backgrounds; and to contribute to the community’s economic and environmental well-being by nurturing relationships with local groups and providing them with opportunities to explore their own and each other’s creativity through performance and educational activities.

Community consultation has played a key role in this study: Wyeside’s future sustainability is entirely reliant on listening carefully to the wider community, ensuring that the offer and facilities remain relevant. In doing so, Wyeside can positively build on their financial and social resilience for the benefit of future generations.