Leicester City Council approves £2.2 million repair bill for Curve theatre

A project to secure hundreds of aluminium louvres to the outside of Leicester's Curve theatre will go ahead at a cost to taxpayers of £2.2 million. The work was officially given the go-ahead by city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby today (Thursday, November 21).

Leicester City Council said the city mayor had approved the spending of the full amount, with £1.468 million to come from the authority's estate capital maintenance programme and the rest - £732,000 - to come from capital receipts, which is money raised by selling assets.

The work to the city centre venue, in Rutland Street, is needed because a chunk of metal fell from the front of the building earlier this year. A 150kg aluminium “blade” plummeted to the pavement, reportedly narrowly missing a man as he walked by.

READ MORE: Millions to be spent to make Curve theatre safe after falling 'blade' incident

Since then, a large area of Orton Square has been cordoned off, and scaffolding erected around Curve. Recent council documents stated that at the time of the fall, there were no adverse weather conditions.

The city council, which owns the building and rents it out to the theatre trust which runs it, has since commissioned investigators who found that the original fixing of the blade had “failed in certain areas”. There are around 700 of the same type of blade fixed to the building. The work will ensure the fixings on each of them are secure, the council said.

Each panel will be removed and reattached with additional fixings. It is hoped work will start before the end of the year, and to be completed some time next autumn.

In a statement in September, the council told LeicestershireLive: "At the beginning of May, one of the louvres that makes up the brise soleil – or sun breaker – fitted to the exterior of Curve fell off the building onto Orton Square. A cordon was immediately put around the building while investigations took place.

“We have found that the original fixings need replacing in certain areas, and work will now take place to ensure the secure fixing of all of the remaining louvres. We’ve employed a specialist contractor to carry out this work, which will be done one panel at a time so as not to require the erection of scaffolding in front of the whole building. Work is due to begin later this year, and we estimate it will be complete by autumn 2025.

“Obviously the safety of everyone visiting Curve and Orton Square is paramount, and the cordon will need to stay in place throughout this period. We are working with Curve to improve the look of this area while this important work is carried out.”