Carnforth firm teams up with Globe Theatre specialists for latest project

However, for their latest project on the Isle of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, the Carnforth firm worked with a very special partner, Berkshire-based McCurdy & Co, the company responsible for the reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Business development manager Julian Cooper said: “The brief for this tower was a new challenge even for us. The brief was to design, fabricate and install a 40-metre tower at Remote Radar Head Benbecula, but because steel creates radar reflection, the top 20 metres of the tower had to be constructed from timber.

“While we have extensive experience of working with steelwork, we had to outsource the timber construction. We ultimately appointed Berkshire-based McCurdy & Co, craftsmen and consultants and historic timber frame reconstruction specialists.”

McCurdy & Co boast a pretty impressive client and project list, including Chelsea Flower Show, Dorchester Abbey and Barley Hall, York. It’s the Barley Hall project which got them involved in arguably their most famous and impressive project to date, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

For almost a decade, McCurdy & Co were closely involved in the authentic reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original ‘wooden O’, having been selected for the project by the late American actor and director, Sam Wanamaker.

Wanamaker had seen McCurdy & Co at work on the reconstruction of Barley Hall, a 14th century timber framed building in the centre of York.

All the steelwork was fabricated in LARS’ in-house fabrication workshop, while McCurdy & Co worked on the timber framework.

Once manufactured, both were then transported to the site and assembled in situ at Remote Radar Head Benbecula, an air defence radar station operated by the Royal Air Force in the Western Isles of Scotland.

The work was carried out as part of Programme HYDRA, a series of works aimed at creating secure radar stations which can be operated remotely for the RAF.

Mr Cooper said: “This was another amazing project to be involved in, and another one which presented a unique set of challenges. Once again, the team here at LARS was up for the challenge.

“The team working on Project HYDRA worked diligently and collaboratively, ultimately delivering the project smoothly and to the satisfaction of the client.”