Tom Niven
Director, Co-Head of Lighting

Tom is a lighting director in our London studio and co-leads the lighting profession with Colin Ball.

Since joining the practice in 2007, Tom has emerged as an influential designer who draws inspiration from a diverse background in product and graphic design, packaging and branding. With over a decade’s experience in lighting design, his international portfolio spans the sectors, including small and large scale retail, office and commercial fit out, residential, master planning, heritage, healthcare and landscape. In 2017, his commercial scheme for Land Securities UK Head Office was the first refurbishment project to be awarded BREEAM Outstanding.

Tom manages teams on several London office fit-outs for clients including Google, BNY Mellon and Blackstone, together with a large public realm regeneration projects and retail, leisure and landscape. Balancing a strong sense of design with sound technical knowledge, Tom consistently and successfully delivers projects for his clients on time and on budget. More recently, he has used his experience to further develop the team’s design process, drawing on lessons learned from previous projects and driving forward the quality and integrity of the BDP lighting offering.

As lighting design continues to thrive as a profession, Tom is increasingly involved in the education of students and young designers. He is passionate about developing new talent, sharing and imparting his knowledge and experience with the next generation. He lectures at the University of Bath MSc Built Environment course and tutors on the Diploma course at the Interior Design School in West London.