BBC World

Working with renowned artist Mark Pimlott to deliver a world class public space

Urban Initiatives were appointed by the BBC to consider both the traffic and movement issues and the street and public realm associated with the refurbishment of Broadcasting House on Portland Place London. The site forms the setting for a major piece of public art ‘World’ conceived by Canadian born artist Mark Pimlott.

We worked closely with the artist to ensure that his vision could be realised. The space is surfaced in high quality Portland stone flags with lines of longitude and latitude rendered in stainless steel strips. The surface of ‘World’ also incorporates stainless steel place names, fibre optic lights and small-scale speakers. An audio installation is linked to key outputs from the World Service.

The space was completed in 2011 and is used for events.