BDP part of UK Pavilion scheme at Milan Expo

A structure inspired by the unique role of the honeybee will represent the UK on the world stage at the Milan Expo in 2015.

At a ceremony in Rome on Sunday 18 May, Prince Harry announced that Nottingham based artist Wolfgang Buttress has won the competition to design the UK Pavilion for the next Universal Expo. Prince Harry took part in the unveiling during an official visit to Italy in support of the British Government.

BDP is part of Wolfgang’s winning team and will provide landscape, architectural and environmental engineering expertise. British companies Stage One and RISE have been awarded the £6 million contract to build the winning design.

Once the UK Pavilion is built, visitors will walk through a fruit orchard and enter a natural wildflower meadow. As they near the centre of the meadow, the focal point of the structure will come into view: a golden orb made of fine steel lattice based on the design of a honeycomb. The ‘Hive’ will pulsate and buzz with the noise of a real bee colony.

James Millington, landscape architect at BDP said:

“We are thrilled to be part of Wolfgang Buttress’ team helping to deliver this exciting and highly sustainable project - a true collaboration between landscape and art that aims to highlight the decline of the world’s bee population and the importance of pollination to the production of food.”