High traffic | Low maintenance | Durable decking | London

Royal Opera House roof terrace becomes 600m² multi-use deck.

London’s Royal Opera House is in the North East corner of Covent Garden. Overlooking the Piazza is a fifth floor decking area of around 600sqm. For the last 25 years this was a hardwood deck, but when Stanton Williams Architects were asked to oversee the redevelopment of this area a new deck was an integral part of the plan.

Originally a rest area for staff at the Royal Opera House, the decking area was to be re-purposed as part restaurant, part relaxation area, part meeting space and part open air dance training studio.

The Outdoor Deck Company were commissioned to install the Grad Hidden-fix Decking System and Kebony deck boards. Modified sustainable softwood, using an environmentally-friendly patented process, Kebony is low-maintenance and hard-wearing, making it the perfect choice for highly trafficked decking areas.  

The finished deck is part of a major transformation of the Royal Opera House by Stanton Williams.

Rawden Pettitt, Associate Director, Stanton Williams commented:

“As part of the architectural interventions in the building, the existing roof terrace – previously only open to ticket holders – has been transformed into the new Amphitheatre Terrace, and is open throughout the day on a year-round basis to the general public and theatre-goers alike. With spectacular views across Covent Garden Piazza and the London skyline, a new, high-quality timber deck is in place across the entirety of the terrace. Delivered by The Outdoor Deck Company, Stanton Williams naturally consulted them during the design stages, after several successful previous collaborations. Their advice and installation helped achieve the high level of quality that Stanton Williams has come to expect from Mike, Gary and the rest of the team.”