Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[JohanofNess]

Well if the Mayor of London can be ordered to remove some little hut he put on a flat roof of his London home then I do think something that big should have some sort of planning consent

 

It's a site office it'll be gone soon enough, it's hard enough getting some projects done without folk moaning about a temporary site office, how do you think we get stuff built, we need offices you can't do it sat in the car.

[MuckleJoannie]

The planning application can be seen here

 

This is going on the site where WAG had their premises. An office was planned there, but never went ahead, several years ago for the Finance and Social Work departments. This could be for the same purpose.

[EM]

...I do think something that big should have some sort of planning consent.

Interesting.

 

It is a large building site and so I don't actually think that the building is going to make all that much difference. However, I would have expected people to (very slightly) prefer to have the main building area more shielded by a taller "real" building rather than the usual array of trashy portacabins.

[shetlandpeat]

Foot paths can be shut, quite easily... notice has to be given and an alternative route posted in paper.

 

Their may not now be a safe passage for folk to the museum so pedestrians are diverted..

 

Does a pier or other structure constitute the coast, does it mean you can walk anywhere, even Shetland Catch or the oil terminal jetties, or even the ferry jetty?

[JustMe]

The planning application can be seen here

 

This is going on the site where WAG had their premises. An office was planned there, but never went ahead, several years ago for the Finance and Social Work departments. This could be for the same purpose.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[greenman]

not even any respite on a sunday as they started work at 8 yesterday morning

[trout]

'Centre of creativity' taking shape in Lerwick

Originally posted on BBC News

 

A £12m "centre of excellence for international creativity" has begun to take shape on Shetland.

 

The first bricks have been laid at Mareel on the Lerwick waterfront.

 

Led by Shetland Arts Development Agency (Sada), it will comprise a 330-seat performance auditorium and a digital cinema.

 

The venue will also provide rehearsal space for music, dance and drama, a state-of-the-art recording studio and digital media production suite.

 

Gwilym Gibbons, director of Sada, said: "Mareel will provide a creative hub and focus for our very special creative community and Shetland as a whole will benefit from a unique, state-of-the-art facility."

 

It is scheduled to open in Spring 2011.

 

Funding for the project has come from sources including the European Regional Development Fund, Shetland Islands Council, the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

 

[shetlandpeat]

any photos?

[ISOT]

Does anyone know how fast the cinema will be able to show new release films. I'll be very dissapointed if we'll still be waiting weeks to see these films!

 

Cheers

[peeriebryan]

any photos?

Yup - http://www.flickr.com/photos/shetlandarts/collections/72157619096385682

 

Gwilym Gibbons and I also made a peerie video tour of the site about a month ago - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDXRohI1Rak

 

Does anyone know how fast the cinema will be able to show new release films. I'll be very dissapointed if we'll still be waiting weeks to see these films!

New releases will open in Mareel at the same time as the rest of the UK

 

Currently films shown at the Garrison come on large reels and there's a limited number of copies in circulation, hence the wait. Mareel will be showing digitally distributed films so there's no physical media to transport

[shetlandpeat]

I was a projectionist at out local flea pit in the 80's, the films came on 4 or 5 rolls, with exception of Caligula, which was on 9. It took 2 of us to safely carry the boxes up4 flights of stairs, on a Saturday night, I had to splice the new film together onto a 10,000 metre spool, and un splice the old film. This used to take about 2 hours. Then the courier used to turn up at 2 am to whis the film some where else. We also did childrens Saturday Morning films and late nighters, lots of drunk folk snoring through some french film, hopin to see a bit of flesh.

 

It sounds like the modern projectionist may be a wee beit porky if he/she only has to deal with bytes of film..

 

It all sounds good, very luck that someone has had the vision and foresight to go ahead with this, especially as the initial hysteria, accusations and a lack of 'Trust' has now faded.

[Sudden Stop]

Does anyone know how fast the cinema will be able to show new release films. I'll be very dissapointed if we'll still be waiting weeks to see these films!

 

Cheers

 

To be honest, it wouldn't have bothered me if we had to wait. It'd still be faster than waiting for the dvd to come out and far cheaper/easier than going south to watch a film.

[ISOT]

Does anyone know how fast the cinema will be able to show new release films. I'll be very dissapointed if we'll still be waiting weeks to see these films!

 

Cheers

 

To be honest, it wouldn't have bothered me if we had to wait. It'd still be faster than waiting for the dvd to come out and far cheaper/easier than going south to watch a film.

 

Well I just think to spend that kind of money on a Cinema/music venue to wait 7 or 8 weeks for a latest release would be a huge dissapointment, I'm sure others would agree. I'm glad we'll be able to view them as they are released cos thats what the whole 'cinema' experience for me is about.

 

Cheers

[TeeAyBee]

^^^ I'm with you on this. if I recall correctly, the plan is to accept first release films in digital format via satellite downlink and via transportable hard disk. It also gives the option for especially popular films to be held over a bit longer by the application of a license key file rather than having it whisked away. A suitable example is the recent Harry Potter - the Garrison was full for every showing and so some additional showings were scheduled for the next month which were largely full too. A problem that will go away with digital distribution.

[trout]

Latest breaking news. Thoughts?

 

Original Shetland News article by Hans J. Marter on 5 March, 2010

 

COUNCILLORS in Shetland yesterday (Thursday) voiced their concern over Lerwick’s new music and cinema venue Mareel after it emerged that most of the project’s contingency funds had already been used up.

 

The £12.1 million centre being constructed at Lerwick’s North Ness has a contingency budget of just £311,700, and almost £230,000 of that is already allocated.

 

The project has always been controversial, with many islanders and councillors arguing Shetland could not afford an arts venue of such a size.

 

The project is largely funded with contributions from Shetland Islands Council, the National Lottery, the European Structural Funds and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

 

When the council decided by the casting vote of convener Sandy Cluness to award £5.2 million towards the project, it was made clear to the Shetland Arts Development Agency that no additional money would be made available under any circumstances.

 

The council also established a sounding board to monitor progress and the use of council funding.

 

Yesterday several councillors voiced concern after the latest monitoring report, which suggested that the project had already spent a large amount of its contingency at an early stage in the construction process.

 

The extra money went mainly on an additional cost for external cladding, the increased cost of audio visual equipment and “other contractual costs”. Councillor Alastair Cooper won the support of his fellow councillors when he called on the development committee to “press Shetland Arts to reduce the level of the contingency spent”.

 

Mr Cooper said: “We do have concerns how the contingency has been spent. There needs to be some urgency to identify savings.”

 

Head of development Neil Grant added: “This gives cause for concern and requires close scrutiny. If we don’t keep an eye on this we could have a problem in the long term.”

 

Councillors heard that Shetland Arts had identified project savings of around £80,000 to boost the contingency fund to £162,000, but expressed doubts whether that would be achievable.

 

Speaking from London last night, Shetland Arts director Gwilym Gibbons defended the project saying he was under no illusion that any extra money would become available. He added that he was confident the arts venue could be delivered within budget.

 

“We are following a policy of maintaining a two per cent contingency against remaining spend, so the amount of contingency reduces as we build.

 

“We have spent a little more than what we would have liked to spend up to this point. However we have identified ways of how we can bring back the position to two per cent of remaining spend by the end of this month.

 

“I am absolutely confident that the contingency that we have is sufficient to deliver this project on budget and on time.”

 

Mareel is due to open to the public in spring 2011.