Andy Hayles is the Managing Director of Charcoalblue Ltd, a leading UK theatre consultancy.
      After gaining a BA (Hons) degree in English Literature and Drama at Sheffield University, England, Andy went on to become a theatre practitioner for seven years, at various UK theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Theatre Royal, Richmond, and London’s West End. He then moved into theatre consultancy, and for the last twelve years has been providing strategic planning and consultancy in all aspects of theatre design.
      A director of Theatre Projects Consultants until 2003, Andy co-founded Charcoalblue Ltd in January 2004.  Since then, the company has rapidly expanded to become a major player in theatre consultancy in the United Kingdom. Some of Charcoalblue’s current theatre consultancy projects in the UK include the £100 million redevelopment of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon; Leicester Haymarket Theatre and Performing Arts Centre; the National Theatre Studios, the Young Vic, the Camden Roundhouse and a new concert hall at Snape Maltings.
      Andy has lectured regularly at RADA, LIPA, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and Canterbury and Cambridge Universities.  He has been a judge for the PLASA Innovation Awards for the last 5 years.  He has had articles published in Lighting and Sound International, Building Magazine, Auditoria Magazine and the UK TEA Publications.
      Andy is a full member of the UK Society of Theatre Consultants, a Director of the Association of British Theatre Technicians, and a member of the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings.  He’s married with 3 children (all boys!) and unsurprisingly has little hair left!