Empire Cinema Bath

Background

TIVOLI – Bringing a new concept in luxury cinema and casual dining to the UK. TIVOLI has selected the outstanding Southgate centre in Bath for the launch of its first boutique cinema. TIVOLI redefines the casual dining movie-going experience. From the luxurious extra-wide sofas set between individual tables to the selection of hot and cold food and drinks served to you before the movie starts, TIVOLI is an experience like no other. A merger of the best in casual dining, five-star hotel quality lounge areas and the latest films, relax within stylish auditoria with excellent sight and sound, including all-laser projection for crisp clean images coupled with Tivoli’s widescreen experience. Meet friends and enjoy either a coffee or the best in casual dining, with a licensed cafe-bar and restaurant serving delicious food, coffee, cakes, wines and beers throughout the day. And for that extra special occasion, there’s the Directors Lounge and Screen – a unique and exclusive experience.

TIVOLI will exist as a laid-back and charismatic neighbourhood destination, redefining the casual dining and movie-going experience by pairing designer café-bar lounges with stylish auditoria.

Challenges

The challenges encountered in constructing a tiered seating style cinema in a shopping centre, is the lack of height in the existing building, which meant there was no room for mechanical and electrical services above the ceilings, and required the construction team to devise, and install all the services below the tiered stadia and raised flooring.

Solutions

Once the construction team had completed all the sound walls to create the auditoriums, with the mechanical and electrical contractors, we worked together in systematically installing all services, whilst we constructed the raised floors, which meant we could treat and sign off all fire rated penetrations, provide access to all serviceable areas, and ensure that the structural integrity of the raised floors weren’t being hindered.

Results

An exciting new breed of boutique cinema, a fantastic screening venue that is also a high-end social and dining destination in its own right and was short listed for the “Restaurant and Bar Design” award.

The Bath venue has four fifty-seater screening studios and a twelve-seat directors lounge/screen and boy are they comfy. You can kick back on the extra wide comfy sofas (with footrests no less) and nibble on duck croquettes and pizza. Most satisfying is the food service which brings your order direct to your sofa in the screening studio. Cocktails are also advisable; particularly the film star martini, which is in keeping with the decadent décor.