Dave Ludlam

Dave has been with Theatreplan for almost 20 years and is one of the world's leading stage engineers. Dave had a 14-year career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, based at the Barbican Theatre in London, where he was responsible for the design and management of all types of stage machinery and ensuring legal compliance. As a chartered engineer, with a background in instrumentation and high integrity, real-time industrial control software, Dave has brought his expert stage engineering skills to many of Theatreplan’s flagship projects, including at the award-winning Copenhagen Opera House, the Barbican Theatre and Concert Hall, and at Sydney Opera House.

Prior to joining Theatreplan, Dave worked on an incredible variety of freelance engineering projects, from a high speed food processing project for Sortex (now the Bühler Group), where he engineered conveyor belt tension controls to work with their optical sorting machines, improving the economies of food production lines. Dave also worked with Imperial College, on the eLISA probe (evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), writing ground test software for the European Space Agency mission designed to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves.

Dave is now Project Leader on many of Theatreplan’s most complex and high profile projects. He writes and oversees Employer's Requirements and is responsible for ensuring contractors’ compliance with relevant standards and regulations for these highly complex engineering systems. He completed work on the new studio theatre at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 2022 and is now leading the team on the redevelopment of the main playhouse there.

Dave believes honesty with the client is always the best policy, particularly around budget and project options. In addition to his high level engineering expertise he is known for his friendly approach and excellent client engagement skills.