Basement cinema rooms in London.
Chelsea · SW3 · a cinema room with copper shelvingCompleted work, photograph
Private cinemas and media rooms below London houses. Quiet, dark and built by one team.
A cinema is a quiet room first.
A basement cinema is a quiet private cinema below the house. We are NU Projects, design and build in Fulham SW6 since 2010. A basement runs £450 to £780 a sq ft, construction only. Call 020 7731 6841, and a budget estimate typically follows within seven days.
A basement suits a cinema. It is dark, it is deep, and the ground already quietens it.
Sound still travels through structure. So a cinema is built as a room within a room.
Inside, panels and joinery tune the sound. Ventilation is designed to run quietly during the film.
The equipment lives in a rack room beside it, cooled and reachable. Seats can step up where the height allows.
Lighting, screen and seating are drawn together. Joinery comes from Cochrane Bespoke, where specified.
One team designs, prices and builds it. Your AV specialist or ours fits the system.
What the work includes
- A room within a room, isolated from the house
- Acoustic panels and joinery to tune the sound
- Quiet ventilation for long films
- A cooled rack room for the equipment
- Stepped seating where the height allows
- Lighting and blackout designed in
- Basement cinema rooms by area
- Basement cinema rooms in Chelsea, Basement cinema rooms in Kensington, Basement cinema rooms in South Kensington, Basement cinema rooms in Holland Park, Basement cinema rooms in Notting Hill, Basement cinema rooms in Knightsbridge, Basement cinema rooms in Belgravia, Basement cinema rooms in Mayfair, Basement cinema rooms in St John’s Wood, Basement cinema rooms in Hampstead, Basement cinema rooms in Fulham
- What it costs
- See a range in a minute. Then send us the address for a proper number. Open the calculator
- Where we work
- Fulham, Chelsea, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Mayfair, Notting Hill and Holland Park, Chiswick, Wandsworth, Putney and Barnes, Hampstead and St John’s Wood, Weybridge, Cobham and Oxshott, South Kensington, Marylebone, Bayswater and Maida Vale, Pimlico and Westminster, Battersea and Clapham, Richmond, Twickenham and East Sheen, Islington, Highgate and Primrose Hill, Greenwich, Dulwich, Camden, Wimbledon, Bermondsey, Brixton, Ealing, Acton, Hammersmith and Brook Green, Earl’s Court, Queen’s Park and Kensal Rise, Fitzrovia and Bloomsbury
The room sits inside a room. The house above never hears the film.
From the brief to the first film.
- 01
Screen, seats and sound
How many seats, what screen, which sound system. Listed first.
- 02
Isolation design
The room within a room, drawn with the structure.
- 03
Air and equipment
Quiet ventilation and a cooled rack room placed.
- 04
Consents
Planning, building control and party wall notices handled.
- 05
The cost plan, then one contract
A price built line by line. Provisional sums named.
- 06
Build, calibrate, hand over
Sound and picture set up, then aftercare from the same team.
Ten checks before you appoint a home cinema builder.
- 01
Finished cinemas
Ask to sit in a cinema they built, if the owner allows.
- 02
Isolation
Ask how the room is separated from the structure.
- 03
Doors and ducts
Ask how sound is stopped at doors, vents and services.
- 04
Ventilation noise
Ask how loud the air will be during a quiet scene.
- 05
Rack room
Ask where the equipment lives and how it is cooled.
- 06
Seating and sightlines
Ask to see the section with every seat drawn.
- 07
Lighting control
Ask how the light dims and blacks out.
- 08
The AV specialist
Ask who supplies and calibrates the system.
- 09
Joinery
Ask who makes the panels and cabinets.
- 10
One contract
Ask whether structure, room and fit-out sit with one team.
Cinemas and media rooms we built.
What owners ask before building a cinema.
Further reading, from the journal
Why build a cinema in the basement?
A basement is dark and the ground already quietens it.
With isolation, it becomes the quietest room in the house.
How do you stop cinema sound reaching the house?
The room is built inside the room, on isolated mounts.
Doors, ducts and services are sealed against sound too.
Where does the cinema equipment go?
In a rack room beside the cinema, cooled and easy to reach.
It keeps fan noise out of the room.
Can a basement cinema have stepped seating?
Yes, where the ceiling height allows a raised back row.
We test it on the section before the dig is fixed.
Tell us about the cinema.
Your name and one way to reply are enough. It goes straight to the studio.