They introduced him to Tim Ronalds Architects, with whom they had previously worked on the Hackney Empire refurbishment. Toohey surveyed what was accessible including the auditorium roof, which is supported by huge, 43m-long rivetted plate trusses. The auditorium roof steelwork and joists have been left exposed with the roof built up above to meet modern thermal and acoustic standards. Bradford Live is double the capacity of Bristol Beacon, another council-backed refurbishment project which went wildly over budget, costing £123m rather than the original £48.8m. This makes the £50m cost of Bradford Live seem good value.