At a construction cost of £16.5m, this project was developed as a Design & Build contract with Willmott Dixon Construction in Shrewsbury, West Midlands, and the venue opened in February 2009. The building incorporates a 650-seat main auditorium, a 250-seat flexible studio theatre, a dance studio, a multi-purpose space and all the requisite ancillary spaces. The design resolves challenges such as the site being located below the river's flood plain level and uses elevational treatment and articulation to reduce the apparent height and mass of the building. The Theatre's external appearance has both main and studio theatres and the dance studio treated as independent entities and the ancillary and foyer spaces forming a solid-void-solid rhythm around them. Inside the building, the design philosophy was to make the main auditorium as intimate as possible for an audience of 650 people. We achieved this by extending the two upper tiers of audience to the proscenium arch and enveloping the forestage. The foyers are bright and airy and an old disused chapel on the site is incorporated as the main bar. Since opening Shrewsbury Theatre Severn has received considerable praise from the client and theatre users and critical acclaim from within the performing arts industry.