Verulamium venture

OVO, the theatre production company that has been running the Roman Theatre Open Air Festival since 2014, has submitted plans to convert St Germain’s barn into a new performance venue, after being awarded a £300,000 Community Ownership Fund grant for the project. The barn is Grade II-listed and is located between Verulamium Park and Verulamium Museum close to the Roman Theatre of Verulamium. It was part of a farmstead dating from the 18th century and appears on maps from 1692.

Plans are going through the usual application, review and resubmission process. The initial planning application was refused in March 2025 because of concern about bats and nesting birds. Planners felt there was a lack of adequate bat surveys to demonstrate that development would not result in harm to protected species. OVO has been working with specialist advisors on this but had a timing issue because the bat roosting season is between May and August and emergence and re-entry surveys need to wait until then.

Meanwhile, listed building consent has been granted for an internal partition to be removed. There will be no other structural alterations to the building which has 20th century weatherboarding over the original timber frame. The plans for the building feature a new courtyard, stage, and stackable seating. The Listed Building/Design and Conservation team believes the plans would secure the ‘longer-term survival of the historic building’.

Plans will be resubmitted over the summer and OVO hoped to begin the refurbishment of the barn in autumn 2025 and to open the new theatre in spring 2026.

The project is supported by the Civic Society and we will be keeping a watch on progress.