A Meeting Place Reborn

A Meeting Place

Mr Ross Cardiff

Chief Financial Officer

To put the space in context, the music department will have the same square meterage as the Shiel building. Practice rooms, studios, recording studios, offices and much much more.

Since August of 1993 the Annand Theatre has been the meeting place for the Senior School, over the last decade though, the growth of the School has rendered the building too small. As a fully functioning theatre, its primary role has been getting the boys of TSS together in one place and unfortunately it’s size of 650 odd seats does not work with a senior student population which has just hit 1000. The Annand project has been on the School’s master building plan for a number of years and has seriously been on the drawing board for the last three. Many variants have taken place until we have reached the final design which is about to be built.

A big change has been the incorporation of music. The music department has lived in the former Cable Station building for decades. While they made do they were never great music spaces. The new Annand will house the entire music department in a facility that will be unrivalled on the Gold Coast and probably Queensland. To put the space in context, the music department will have the same square meterage as the Shiel building. Practice rooms, studios, recording studios, offices and much much more. Truly a game changer for music at TSS.

The meeting place (AKA the theatre) will have 1,200 seats. Why so many you may ask? That is the size of the School. With 1000 students and over 120 academic staff on the Senior campus this will allow the entire Senior School to be in one place at one time. While our historic Chapel is the spiritual heart of the School the new Annand will be the cultural heart, a place where our boys can come together, for assembles, graduations, speech days, to play music and stage drama. A true meeting place, and a really nice theatre as well!

To remain at the cutting edge of boys education, a new state-of-the-art theatre has commenced construction, putting TSS at the forefront of 21st century learning. Drawing inspiration from the original Annand Theatre, the new theatre design respects the heritage of The Southport School, while creating a distinct structure with its own character and dimensions. From where the historic theatre once stood, a bold new structure has begun to emerge, the next step in the future growth of our school.

The new Annand Theatre will deliver an innovative and inspiring learning and performance space that will allow the TSS community to come together and connect like never before. A place to foster collaborative thinking, showcase positive achievements and celebrate a new level of performing arts.

Designed by the School’s architects, Burling Brown, the structure is now underway and is due for completion towards the end of 2020. As the biggest capital undertaking ever delivered at The Southport School, we ask you to join us in support of this historic expansion, providing an investment in the future of all future generations of TSS boys.

Should you wish to donate or make a pledge to this historic project, please visit the Foundation page on the TSS website or contact Olivia Dean – olivia.dean@tss.qld.edu.au

Together, lets imagine what's next...