About Watford Palace Theatre

Watford Palace Theatre is a historic production hub at the heart of its community. Like many heritage cultural buildings, it pairs a beautiful, irreplaceable space with ageing building services - and a growing need to run more comfortably, more sustainably, and at lower cost, without losing any of its character.

The challenge

For a theatre with such significant heritage, keeping the building comfortable was proving to be a surprisingly manual job. Heating meant walking the entire building to adjust 120 radiators by hand, one valve at a time. The controls behind the scenes were ageing, the systems didn't talk to each other, and there was little visibility of where energy was actually going.

The theatre needed a technology foundation that could:

• Bring ageing, disconnected building services together under one coherent system

• Replace manual, time-consuming control with intelligent, centralised control

• Give operators real visibility of energy use, comfort and air quality

• Be open and scalable, ready to grow as the building's needs evolve

Traditional building management couldn't deliver the level of integration and everyday simplicity required. The building needed a true building operating system.

The Smart Core x ecoDriver solution

Smart Core became the unifying platform for Watford Palace Theatre. Acting as the building's open Building Operating System (BOS), Smart Core sits over a new smart building energy management system (BEMS) and brings the building's key systems together into a single, operable digital environment.

Working alongside ecoDriver, the approach put people first - simple, intuitive control on the surface, sophisticated integration underneath.

Key solutions included:

• A new smart BEMS replacing the legacy controls, with a Beckhoff building controller integrating the air source heat pump, gas boiler, five air handling units, a chiller and five air conditioning units

• 120 wireless radiator TRVs over a LoRaWAN network, replacing the manual valves, plus new air-quality and temperature sensing and energy sub-metering across a BACnet/IP controls network

• Smart Core as the building operating system - intuitive floorplan-based control, dashboards, monitoring, exportable data and automations

• ecoDriver turning the building's energy data into action, to understand consumption and cut waste

How it works: the nervous system of the building

A smart theatre works in three layers - sensing what is happening, coordinating the building's systems, and making all of it easy to understand.

Sense  

Wireless sensors and meters throughout the building report temperature, air quality and energy use in real time - the building's nerve endings.

Control 

A Beckhoff building controller and the new smart BEMS bring the plant and services together on one platform, so they can be coordinated rather than run in isolation.

Understand  

Smart Core, the building operating system, gives operators an intuitive, floorplan-based view of everything - live data, dashboards, monitoring and automated workflows - so the building can be run with confidence by anyone, not just specialists. Alongside it, ecoDriver turns energy data into action.

The value

The outcome is a building that is easier to run and more comfortable to occupy. No more walking the building to set 120 radiators by hand; instead, one clear view of how the building is performing, and the tools to manage it.

For operators, Smart Core provides real-time visibility across systems and a single point of control that reduces manual intervention. For audiences, performers and staff, it means a comfortable, well-managed environment. And with ecoDriver, the theatre has better visibility of energy use and the means to reduce it.

Crucially, it is a foundation for growth. The same platform is ready to bring in lighting, AV, occupancy and access control in future - without starting again.

At a glance

• New smart BEMS replacing ageing legacy controls

• Heat pump, boiler, 5 AHUs, chiller and AC units integrated

• 120 wireless TRVs replacing manual radiator valves

• Air-quality and temperature sensing, plus energy sub-metering

• Smart Core BOS unifying control and data

• A scalable, future-ready digital foundation

The Creative Foundations Fund: could this work for your venue?

Arts Council England's Creative Foundations Fund is open now, to help not-for-profit cultural organisations in England upgrade and future-proof their buildings. Strand 1 supports capital projects from £100,000 to £1 million - the kind of building services and smart infrastructure upgrade delivered at Watford Palace Theatre.

It is a competitive, heavily oversubscribed fund, so a strong, well-prepared application matters. That's where we can help. We will work with you to shape the technical scope and design, so you can put the best possible case to the Arts Council.

• 7 August 2026 (noon) - Expression of Interest deadline

• £100k to £1m - Strand 1 grant range

• 5% - minimum partner funding (Strand 1)

The fund supports capital works - the controls, sensors, metering and heating and cooling equipment. A validated applicant profile can take up to 10 working days, so it is worth registering straight away.

Let's talk about a smarter, more sustainable theatre. Get in touch to explore what is possible for your venue, and whether the Creative Foundations Fund could help you get there.