King's Capital Redevelopment

Edinburgh’s much-loved King’s Theatre is 117 years old. It is one of only a handful of surviving Edwardian theatres in the UK which has been continuously operational since it first opened in 1906. It is in urgent need of major restoration to protect its important heritage and to make it fit for purpose for today’s audiences and performing companies. A £35.6M project is now underway to restore and refurbish this unique Grade A listed venue.

Our primary aim is to preserve this important historic building so it remains a vibrant community hub in the heart of the city and ensure the theatre is a world-class venue which helps maintain Edinburgh’s reputation as the Festival City.

The significant investment will ensure the King’s Theatre:

• is fully accessible from street to seat and street to stage for the first time, with level access into the building, two new lifts front of house and one new lift back of house;
• has increased wheelchair spaces by 50%, with dedicated spaces available in the Dress Circle for the first time since the venue opened;
• hosts a more varied programme due to greater venue flexibility by removing the rake from the stage and raising the fly-tower;
• boasts a brand-new creative engagement suite for schools and community use including a Changing Places facility;
• is dementia friendly, so that we can extend our award-winning Dementia Friendly Community programme into Tollcross allowing more people to take part.
• provides accessible and stylish hospitality spaces, enhanced bar areas and a brand-new street level café for use throughout the day and evenings;
• celebrates and shares the unique and inspiring architectural and cultural heritage of this special theatre through interpretation exhibitions and displays housed throughout the building.

Capital Theatres has been planning intensely for the King’s Theatre redevelopment since 2017. A design team was appointed in 2018 and a campaign commenced to raise the estimated £25.7M. However, Covid stalled the project and the associated fundraising campaign for 18 months from 2020. Despite this setback, the charity was on track to deliver the projected programme on time and had secured over 95% of the funding required to commence.

Due to the complex buildability requirements, global events leading to supply chain issues, inflation and the cost-of-living crises, the project costs rose in August 2022 and again in January 2023 as reported previously. An emergency fundraising campaign during those 6 months allowed us to secure enough funding in grants, thanks to additional contributions from the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council donations from our many generous supporters and an agreed £5 million loan to once again reach 95% of the funding package so we could start the building work on time. In December 2023 the King’s Theatre redevelopment was awarded £2 million from the UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund.

The King’s Theatre redevelopment is now on track thanks to the support of over 8,000 individuals, trusts, corporate sponsorship and grants from the Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council, National Lottery Fund and most recently the UK Government through the Community Ownership Fund. We are enormously grateful for the support that has allowed us to get this far. 

We are thrilled to announce that we have now successfully raised over £35 million and would like to thank all our donors and funders for supporting the project and getting us this far! If you would like to help us reach our final funding target there is a range of ways that you can support us here.