Decision details

To provide feedback from the recent consultation on the Council’s vision to remodel Ferneham Hall and seek approval for amendments to the vision.

The Council’s vision for a remodelled Ferneham Hall was approved by the Executive on 09 July 2018.  The vision is a living document and is designed to evolve as more is understood about the needs of the public, hirers and potential operators.

A consultation on the Council’s vision took place between 17 August and 01 October 2018.  Whilst most of the vision was widely supported, the proposal to reduce the size of the main auditorium and the provision of a dedicated ‘Dance Studio’ both received a mixed response.

A large proportion of the public and a number of industry experts and potential operators felt that having 800 seats in the main auditorium would attract both more shows and higher quality productions.   Many also felt that having a Flexible Studio Space would encourage a greater variety of uses and therefore more bookings than a dedicated Dance Studio.

It is therefore proposed that the vision is updated to include a larger main auditorium and the provision of a Flexible Studio Space.

RESOLVED that, having considered the feedback from the vision consultation, the Executive approves the following minor changes to the ‘A Vision: Fareham’s New Entertainment Venue’ document attached at Appendix A to the report:

·         Amend the text relating to the number of seats needed to attract shows (Ferneham Hall Today paragraph’s 4 and 5) to

‘Ferneham Hall’s capacity of 708 seats is not high enough to attract the quality of performers that many people want to see, with shows only reaching an average of 53% capacity, or 372 seats.   

Theatres with around 800 seats can generally attract higher profile and better-quality shows, generating more income through tickets sales and ‘on the night’ spending such as on food and drink.’  

·         Replace ‘dance studio’ with ‘flexible studio space’ (A Vision for the Future, page 9 and Design Priorities, page 11) to highlight the space’s potential for different types of activity.

·         Amend the text relating to the main auditorium size to reflect feedback stating that more seating would help improve the venues offer:

‘Improve the comfort of the main auditorium and increase the size to around 800 seats to attract better quality shows’ (Design Priorities, page 11).

·         Add ‘flexible’ to the priority of having a secondary performance space to reflect its multi-use nature (Design Priorities, page 11).