Burrell Foley Fischer Announcement

We are delighted to formally announce that we have chosen to partner with the leading architects of heritage cinema restoration in the UK, Burrell Foley Fischer!

The funding received from the Coastal Communities Fund will be used to engage Burrell Foley Fischer to produce a feasibility study for the Broadway, bringing your vision for the future of our beloved building to life. Burrell Foley Fischer are award-winning conservation specialists who specialise in cinema and the arts, they have achieved remarkable restorative designs in the likes of the Rio Cinema in London, the Scala Cinema in Prestatyn and, our greatest inspiration, Campbeltown Picture House. We believe there can be no better organisation to help bring the Broadway back to life!

Our lead architect for the project will be Faye Davies, Managing Director of Burrell Foley Fischer. Faye is a dedicated Specialist Conservation Architect and Project Lead, working on sensitive conservation projects from alterations to the creative reuse of historic buildings. Her design philosophy is elegant simplicity, through careful detailing and considered interventions. Her understanding of historic contexts, be it social, cultural, or physical, enables the practice to obtain successful Planning and Listed Building Consent approvals, often on complex sites.

You can view here examples of the incredible work that Burrell Foley Fischer have completed, and immediately begin to imagine the wonderful potential that the Broadway holds and what we can achieve together. Over the next week we will be highlighting the very best of Burrell Foley Fischer's work and shining the spotlight on the type of conservation work that can take place in the Broadway. Community engagement and feedback will be a huge part of the design process and we will be bringing you along every step of the way in the Broadway's journey from this very exciting stage!

The Broadway Cinema of the future is about to be brought to life.

Press Release:

Top architects Burrell Foley Fischer to draw up plans for the Broadway Cinema in Prestwick

Registered charity Friends of the Broadway Prestwick have commissioned the UK’s leading architectural firm of heritage cinema and theatre restoration to draw up plans for the iconic 1930s building on Prestwick Main Street.

“Burrell Foley Fischer have four decades of experience designing all types of community arts buildings, used for drama to music and dance to cinema”, says Faye Davies, Managing Director of the architectural practice famous for its work on Campbeltown Picture House. “The majority of our arts projects utilise existing buildings in some way. Our projects have included the Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham, Cinema City in Norwich, Listed Grade I, the Scala cinema in Prestatyn and the Rio in London, Listed Grade II. Most recently we completed the refurbishment and remodelling of Campbeltown Picture House, a Category A Listed Building on the Kintyre Peninsula, which is now a thriving neighbourhood cinema and community hub.”

The Broadway is a unique survivor from the golden age of cinema and key to its future success is to capitalize on its past. Trustee Kyle Macfarlane says, “Prestwick residents have spoken clearly about their desire to preserve ‘the soul of the Broadway’. The vision for the Broadway Cinema is definitely cinematic, but the Broadway will be so much more than just a cinema. It is to be a flexible multi-use space which will use its evocative 1930s auditorium to maximum effect. It will be able to support everything from the smallest of community gatherings to the largest of gala film shows, and all points in between. It will be, in essence, a living room for the town. Burrell Foley Fischer will be producing a feasibility study which will bring the community’s vision for the Broadway to life. We are incredibly excited to be working with the best heritage cinema architects in the country. The Broadway deserves nothing less”.

The Broadway is a very important building locally. Many residents remember visiting it in its heyday, and some even spotted their future husbands and wives while looking down from the circle foyer. Faye Davies says “as architects we understand the value placed on a town’s historic buildings by its citizens and the importance of restoring them to modern uses without losing the look and feel of the spaces which are fondly remembered and loved. We take immense pleasure in designing cinemas that meet modern cinemagoers expectations of facilities and comfort but are also flexible enough to contribute to economic regeneration and play a much wider role as a hub for the wider community. We therefore look forward to working with Friends of the Broadway Prestwick on the next stage of their journey to turn their dreams into reality.”

The plans will be completed in the summer. Friends of the Broadway Prestwick and Burrell Foley Fischer will be providing lots of opportunities for local residents, members and supporters to get involved and share their feedback on the ongoing work.

The next chapter starts now.