During 2009 STC is celebrating 25 years at The Wharf. Our fantastic heritage-listed building is a Sydney icon with its industrial history and spectacular harbour setting combining to create a uniquely atmospheric home for the Company. We love it and feel very lucky to have it as our home.

As we enter a new phase in STC’s history we think it important to take our building into a sustainable 21st Century, and to provide our audience members with better facilities.

Over recent years we have worked with Arts NSW to significantly upgrade key backstage facilities to provide a better work environment for STC’s artists and staff. These include the recent upgrade of our air-conditioning system which is not only more efficient but has been extended to cover rehearsal rooms on the western side of the building.

We now turn our attention to The Wharf’s public facilities. In 2009, we will undertake two key projects as a first step in a wider upgrade of our home which will, in the longer term, see STC not only offer first class access and facilities for visitors but also be positioned as a committed champion of sustainability.

Bathroom Upgrade
Many of you will be aware that for some time The Wharf bathrooms have been inadequately coping with the needs of our patrons, particularly at peak times such as interval. We’ll be addressing this through a comprehensive renovation of the bathrooms at The Wharf in September/October 2009. This complete modernisation will provide 60% more cubicles in the female toilets with the aim of reducing queuing at busy times, reduce energy and water consumption through the installation of water-saving systems, provide greater convenience for disabled and less mobile patrons through a redesign of the access bathroom and provide new baby change facilities.

Lift Access
For many of our patrons the lack of an alternative to the front entry stairs at The Wharf has proved an impediment to easy access for quite some time. For this reason we have been working with Arts NSW on a plan to install a lift that will allow access from street level to the walkway and Wharf 2 mezzanine. The lift will be constructed from October 2009. View an artist’s impression of the new lift in the download below.

The work on our public facilities is just the beginning of an overall plan to make The Wharf a leading example of efficiency and practicality for a heritage building. In addition to construction of the lift and refurbishment of the public bathrooms, over coming years we plan to dramatically reduce the Company’s existing energy and water consumption and we are working to raise funds for a wider plan that will ultimately see the building generate its own electricity and capture rainwater from the roof for use within The Wharf.  You can learn more about the Greening The Wharf project by clicking here.

We thank all of our generous donors without whose support these key projects would not have been possible:

M.D & J.B Allen, Allimac Trust, David Bailin, Jane & Barry Baker, Helen Bersten, Anelia Bozinovska, Miss M. Burke, Kay Clark, John Clayton, Phil & Cilla Cocks, Jennifer Dewar, Judith Dewsnap, Wendy Dorph, M.A.Drummond, Karen Dwarte, David and Pamela Evans, Norma Ewin, Peter Fletcher, Karen Gabbott, Mary Garnett, Lucy Gemes, Lawrence Goodstone, Judith Gordon, Pauline Griffin, David and Alison Gyger, Anne Hackett, Diane Hague, Bruce & Jo Hambrett, Jan Hatch, William and Shirley Hook, P F Howard, Catherine Jones, Julie King, Rachael Launders, Luke The Kuke, Sandra Marsh, Harold & Ellen Marshbaum, Helen McGorman, Dr G. Mendelsohn, Jocelyn Millett, Esme and Penwill Moore, Jeremy Nelson and Kris Clark, John and Fay Nevile, Mr & Mrs Nicholas, Christina Pender, Jane Poole, Dusanka Sabic, Mrs Aysel Saribatir, Anthony Simpson, Sharon Spilsbury, R. A & S Steiner, Ju Ju Sundin, Betty Symonds, A & N Szczygielski, J.J & A.L Tate, S Van Der Linden, R E Vine-Hall, Carolyn Walsh, Chris Warrick & Caroline Hutchings, L.Watkins & N.Harding, Kate Whitelaw, M. Whiting, Mrs J. Wilkinson, Dr Clive Williams, D Winney

If you would like more information about how you can support our Wharf Upgrade and Greening the Wharf programs please contact our Foundation Co-ordinator, Mara-Jean Tilley by emailing mjtilley@sydneytheatre.com.au or phone (02) 9250 1717.