Redhills Durham Miners’ Hall is a Grade II listed building home to the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) in County Durham, UK. Having secured a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the facility was renovated to become a centre of heritage and education for local coalfield communities.

The basement floor was transformed into a replica coal mining pit, where visitors pass through a coal-faced corridor and into a media room to learn about the history of coal mining in the region. We delivered the scenography for this area.

The coalface was created using pre-formed GRP panels which our scenic team painted black and added graphite to achieve an authentic, weathered finish. On site, each panel was to cut to shape, a more time-consuming job than expected as each panel needed tweaking to meet the undulations in the floor and ceiling due to the age of the building. Once in place the panels were finished with modelling foam to the edges to infil the void between the wall and the panel.

The finishing touches were added with the installation of timber poles and beams that not only concealed the steel and concrete wall supports and ceiling bulkheads but added realism to the set.

In the media room we manufactured timber benches for seating, as well as a timber frame fitted with 16mm MDF black-painted panels for the screen surround.