St James Quarter: Edinburgh Launch

We Are Placemaking commissioned a global touring lighting director who we worked closely with to create an unbelievably epic lighting show highlighting the anchor within the scheme, that being the W Hotel. The team worked in shifts over four days, 24hrs a day, solidly, installing over 100 miles of cabling to power multiple lighting systems over 15 floors of the W Hotel. The site was still pre-completion, and amid the pandemic, it brought enormous challenges as we worked alongside 1200 contractors. We engaged with key local partners such as Edinburgh Zoo, The Balmoral, Edinburgh Castle, and the Edinburgh Tattoo, who all collaborated in the launch for broader engagement in the city. We shot the lighting show overnight, culminating in a 3-minute launch video beginning with a piper standing on a plinth above the hotel overlooking the city skyline. The press and social media engagement were all hugely successful, resulting in a triumph.

Additionally, we curated a two-week programme for launch involving local designers, Edinburgh Jazz and the Carnival, installing ribbon installations across the shopping centre and activating a mixture of live performers and artists across the site.