It was built in 1920–1921 as a cinema, called the Whiteladies Picture House, by James Henry LaTrobe and Thomas Harry Weston (1870–1923) and opened by Duchess of Beaufort on 29 November 1921. It formerly had a ballroom and restaurant but, in 1978, the large single screen was removed and the building split into three screens. As part of the ABC chain, the cinema was eventually absorbed by Odeon, in a merger undertaken by the private equity firm Cinven. With another Odeon nearby on Broadmead‘s Union Street, the decision was taken to close down and sell the Whiteladies in 1999.
We were employed to install temporary site supply’s to allow the refurbishment of all the origin decorative ornamental plasterwork and scagliola.
The existing installation at a residential care home consisted of ten very old obsolete federal electric Stab-lok distribution boards. Manufactured 1950`s – 1980`s
We carried out the replacement of all these distribution boards using new Schneider Electric Acti 9 distribution boards. The work was carried out in normal working hours in 5 day, with very little disruption to the 45 flats & residents. We then rebuilt cupboards around the distribution for added security.
As the result of an EICR (Installation Condition Report) we carried out on this 57 room residential care home, it was found that the majority of the MCCB`s were failing to trip on over current, & those that did would not reset.
One of the issues was that isolating this sub main distribution board would mean the whole site would be without power for the duration on the DB replacement; this would mean the all residents would have to be relocated for this period which would have had a massive impact on the vulnerable residents. There was no room to install a new distribution board in a different location & then transfer the circuits over
Our solution was to isolate the DB remove it from the wall & secure it in a positon where we could then connect up a generator to run the site for the duration
We then installed a new Eaton MCCB board in its position, reconnected the mains supply, & then transfer all the existing circuits over, caring out testing & then re-energizing each circuit. one at a time
The work was carried out in normal working hours in one long day, with very little disruption to the 57 flats & residents.
Workmen took blowtorches to the ship today to cut out and remove the artist Banksy’s painting of the Grim Reaper from just above the waterline on the steel hull.
The artist painted the Grim Reaper onto the ship around 15 years ago, but exposure to the elements is causing ongoing deterioration.
Recognising the artwork’s iconic status and to preserve the image we decided to remove it while the boat is in dry dock for general maintenance, which happens only every eight years.
We approached Bristol City Council about a new home for the Grim Reaper and have arranged to loan the valuable artwork on a long term basis. It is now in the storage facilities of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives. The Grim Reaper will now be assessed for his conservation needs and means of display before going on public show at M Shed some weeks or months later.
George Akins of DHP Family said: “It is great that we have been able to work with Bristol City council to display this iconic Bristol artwork. We really wanted to make sure, that although it is being removed from its intended setting, people could still see it for free and will now get a better view of it.
“To be clear we have no intention of selling the Banksy, we just wanted to preserve the piece of art before it deteriorated too much and we wouldn’t have had another opportunity to do this for a further 8 years.”
Image courtesy of Theo Cottle.
– See more at: http://www.theklabristol.co.uk/news/9-news/342-thekla-s-grim-reaper-banksy-saved#sthash.XD27Y1gm.dpuf
I think it is now at the m shed on display
Thekla is a cargo ship which houses a music venue of the same name, moored in the Mud Dock area of Bristol’s Floating Harbor, England. Originally brought to Bristol as the Old Profanity Showboat, it was a late 1982 brainchild of novelist Ki Longfellow-Stanshall, the wife of Vivian Stanshall. The showboat was based on the idea of creating, owning, and running a theatre on a sea-going ship and using it to showcase music of every sort (limited only by the size of the hold), including cabaret, comedy, plays, musicals, and poetry events. The ship also contained an art gallery. During the 1990s, under new management, it was run as a rent-a-nightclub. The ship has now been returned to its original working name of Thekla.
Owned by DHP Family since 2006, the boat moored in Bristol’s Floating Harbour welcomes around 100,000 visitors a year, and celebrated its 30th birthday in May this year. While the ship was out of the water for the first time in eight years a major three-month refurbishment has been carried out.
During this time the extensive overhaul has seen the top deck reconfigured to create more space and offer more windows views across the water. Other notable changes include increasing the number of toilets, soundproofing to the hull and smoking area, new outside seating, new floors, a new staircase and an additional entrance to improve the traffic flow in and around the venue.
The Electrical installation consisting of lighting, power, access control and fire alarm has been sympathetically carried out to fit in with the character of the ship including using reclaimed marine lighting in many areas.
We have been associated with The Thekla for many years, carrying out installation, maintenance, testing and repairs aboard this iconic boat venue.
The existing lighting was a standard florescent batten installation, in a celling void that had all the steel structure work coted in encapsulated asbestos fire proofing.
As all of our staff are non-licenced asbestos trained, we were awarded the project to replace all the existing lighting with Dextra LED light fittings including a Dali dimming system, & integral emergency lighting.
Not only was there a very high energy saving costs due to using LED fitting but the maintenance saving are an advantage due to the fittings having a 50,000 hour running life having a with restricted entry to this area.
We were tasked to rework the full electrical system of this Burger King restaurant in Bristol, within a specific budget and timescale.
To kick off we stripped out all redundant electrical cabling in the ground floor and first floor dining areas. We then installed new cable management systems and containments within the ceiling voids, new lighting circuits for downlighters and wall lights (connected via plug-in ceiling roses) and a new supply to provide for neon lighting.
In addition to this reworking of the main lighting facilities, we also installed brand new counter-lighting and a lighting supply for their new external fascia signage. The finishing touches included the installation of a complete sound system and over-door heaters.
The management team at the restaurant were very happy with our work, and they were especially pleased that the job was completed in time and on budget.
The Victoria Rooms, which houses the University of Bristol’s music department in Clifton, was originally constructed between 1838 and 1842 in the Greek Revival style of that period.
In the summer of 2013 we were involved in a lighting refurbishment of the main auditorium of this building. The existing chandeliers were removed and replaced with modern LED chandeliers that were approved for fitting into this listed building. These were suspended using specialist winching gear, which allows for easy maintenance and one man raising and lowering.
We feel that we managed to effectively create a modern lighting system that fitted in with the 150 year old architecture of the building. Ensuring that lighting installations conform to Listing Building Regulations is something we have experience of, so we were happy to take on this project and we were pleased with the results.
All the lighting is controlled digitally using a fully programmable dimmable DALI control system, which allows for numerous scene settings and is interfaced with the auditorium audio visual system.
