Art feature: The Usher Hall

After years of closures, disruptions and rising costs, the makeover is complete, the building is fully functional and the public can now decide if the revamp is value for money. By the time the final phase of exterior landscaping is completed in June, the total bill for this transformation is expected to be just under 40 million.

The project, which involved interior refurbishment and construction of a glass extension, has been fraught with delays, particularly in phase two when problems with the building's foundations required plans to be revised causing costs to spiral from 11m to 25m.

Despite putting work further behind schedule, the Usher Hall reopened each summer for the Edinburgh International Festival, with people having to negotiate scaffolding to get into the auditorium and make do with temporary facilities once inside. And even though the hall has been open for business since last year's festival, the exterior of the wing was obscured first by concrete and then bin liners before its barcoded glass faade was unveiled last week.

Usher Hall general manager Karl Chapman thinks the blending of the old building with the new addition by LDN Architects has worked well. "The Usher Hall has a tiny footprint in comparison with modern halls where often the auditorium is around a third of the overall space," he says. "Inevitably opinions will be divided when people see this but the end result is that we've taken a Grade A listed building and transformed it into a concert hall fit for the 21st century."

Chapman admits that since 1914, when the hall first opened, audiences and expectations have moved on and that many of the facilities were inadequate to meet the needs of today's theatregoers. Following the refurbishment, disabled access is improved and queues for the ladies' toilets during the interval are a thing of the past with upgraded and additional facilities in place. And for those in the upper circle meeting friends elsewhere in the hall, a new lift and helical staircase to all levels eliminates the need for a breathless interval dash downstairs to the outside of the building and in again.

The freestanding glass wing is attracting the most attention. The box office has moved to the ground-floor level that takes in the curved faade of the old building and includes a new bar and caf area. At the moment these facilities are only available during concerts but, from May, the caf will be open during the day, as will the hall, to allow the public greater access to items of interest such as the 1m refurbished organ, and artwork from the City Art Centre's collection.

The most contentious area is the hospitality/function suite-cum-educational space on the dress circle level, which filmmaker and architectural writer Murray Grigor says is far too constricted. "It's mind-boggling, you walk through a cupboard into a space like an hour glass," he says. "What they've done is an absolute disgrace. What other country would sacrifice such a pantheonic building by putting a herniated tumour on the side of it?"

Grigor believes the city missed an opportunity to create a more visionary statement when Historic Scotland raised objections to Richard Murphy's mid-1990s design for a Ring Of Saturn-style glassed area on the roof of the Usher Hall. "We never do proper views in Edinburgh, everything's buried," he says.

Part of the difficulty with redeveloping the building has been its Grade A listing. John Glenday, from architecture magazine Urban Realm, says modern architecture has been hamstrung by Edinburgh's Unesco world heritage status. He believes the curving faade of the glass wing cuts a striking presence. "It's a magnificent venue and it's heartening to see it's been born again, entering the 21st century renewed, reinvigorated and well-placed to cater for concert-goers.

Little was done to alter the hall's superb acoustics, something performers such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra praise. Having decamped to the Festival Theatre during the renovation work, the RSNO is now back in its Edinburgh home with a larger audience. Communications manager Daniel Pollitt says the upgrading and expansion of the backstage areas has made a difference: "More space and better facilities makes for happier musicians."

Visitors to the Usher Hall still have to make their way through temporary barriers to the entrance as phase three continues until the end of June. This will see the external areas around the hall redeveloped to include a pedestrianised area, seating and the landscaping of Grindlay and Cambridge streets. It's hoped this will become something of an artists' quarter, with informal performances by groups such as the St Petersburg Brass, who often provide pre-concert entertainment during the festival.

Chapman says the redevelopment is the biggest change in the Usher Hall's history and he's confident it will stand it in good stead for the next 100 years. "We've got one of the world's greatest concert halls back on stream. When you come in there's a sense of grandeur which adds to your experience of the evening and the music." v

www.usherhall.co.uk

This article was originally published in Scotland on Sunday on 28 February 2010