THE University of Essex’s latest project, Cliff Town Studios, in Nelson Street, Southend, is ready to take in students and the public to see theatrical performances.

The £5million project is the new home of the East 15 theatre school which has set up a Southend base in addition to its original home in Loughton.

It has seen the transformation of the former Cliff Town United Reformed Church into a theatre and five studios along with students’ common room, two seminar rooms and the usual back stage areas.

Lee Winters, the university’s deputy director of estate management, said: “The project has been delivered on budget and on time.

“Now we are putting the final touches to the last few bits and pieces and should be fully operational in about three or four days.”

The theatre will see its grand opening in January when East 15 is planning a spectacular performance to show the people of Southend what has been achieved.

When not in use as a theatre, the old church itself can also be used as an extra studio.

The transformation has retained many of the church’s original features. It closed two years ago when congregations from four churches in the east of Southend amalgamated and moved to the Bournemouth Park United Reformed Church.

Mr Winters said: “It has been an exciting project and there are ways in which we have been able to preserve and incorporate parts of the old church.

“For example, we have brand new automatic doors, but behind them we have also the original church doors which will be closed when the building is not in use.”

The theatre box office, which will double as reception area and administration office, incorporates three stained-glass windows.

The bar for when the theatre is in use will also double up as the students’ common room during the day.

Other studios have been produced from the former memorial halls.

In studio one, which is the old main memorial hall, there are provisions for aerial theatre work, including a circus trapeze. It is also used for combat acting because there is adequate space to use equipment, such as broadswords.