Public Art Online Regeneration Case Studies

Cabot Circus, Bristol

Factsheet

Title of Project

Cabot Circus – public art programme

Artists

Neville Gabie, Nayan Kulkarni, Susanna Heron, Timorous Beasties, Vong Phaophanit & Claire Oboussier, Esther Rolinson, Leo Fitzmaurice, Marie-Jeanne Hoffner, Dryden Goodwin, David Ogden, Dan Perjovschi, Donna Daley-Clarke, Ralph Hoyte, Claire Morgan, Blackout Arts

Commissioner/Project Management

Project initiated and managed by Sam Wilkinson and Sarah Collicott for InSite Arts, on behalf of the Bristol Alliance, a joint venture between Land Securities and Hammerson

Land Securities

www.landsecurities.com

Hammerson

www.hammerson.com

Commenced

2001

Completed

September 2008

Location

Bristol, United Kingdom

Scope

The expansion and redevelopment of Broadmead and its adjacent area was seen as a key dimension of the city’s economic regeneration. Central to this was the creation of Cabot Circus, a new retail, leisure and inner city living quarter – comprising some 140 shops, 25 restaurants, a 13 screen cinema complex, 500 private residential and student accommodation units, 160,000 square feet of new office space and a hotel.

Approach

As a design-led initiative, Cabot Circus aimed to achieve a barrier-free public realm with improved connectivity and transport, employing a sustainable, environmentally low impact approach to construction, incorporating new artworks and the sympathetic restoration of listed buildings as an integral component of the scheme.

Budget

Artist and project fees and commission costs for Cabot Circus’ public art programme amounted to around £2 million, with larger permanent works typically costing between £100 - £250K to realise. Significant projects such as Nayan Kulkarni’s collaboration in the design and construction of the roof involved an additional £7.5 million of direct spend from the development budget.

Funding sources

The public art programme was financed from an overall development budget of £520 million. For BS1, Neville Gabie and InSite Arts secured funding of £32K from Arts Council England, South West on behalf of the Bristol Alliance.

Summary Artists’ Brief

The artists were selected from an invited shortlist or by direct appointment. Wherever possible, artist briefs were kept open. Encouraged to bring their own interpretation of artistic practice to the scheme's public realm, the artists’ role has been to contribute not only to the fabric of Cabot Circus, but also to the diversity of experience apparent throughout the development. Each piece of work, conceived as an integral part of the scheme design, involved the artists working alongside the scheme's architects, planners, engineers and contractors.