Hull

Hull

Everything about the Hull City of Culture project was custom. The lighting structures, color, bracketry, and finishing designed by Arup were brought to life by our local team to ensure endless design possibilities. Once deemed “the UK’s worst place to live in 2005”, Hull is now thriving with a 15% increase in tourism after the city-wide regeneration project.

As part of the City of Culture program, Hull underwent an extreme transformation which “turbo-charged the local economy and challenged the worst images of the city”. Previously, we had designed a project in a neighboring part of the city. Hull wanted this next project to remain consistent while also creating a unique design to compliment the new, state-of-the-art Bonus Arena. Valmont has been the manufacturer of choice when it comes to street and area lighting throughout the city because of our custom engineering and design capabilities. We went with a “family member” approach for design; choosing to complement our sister project while still creating a unique design for the area.

Valmont developed 9 custom structures to meet the aesthetical brief for the project as well as custom color finishing and matching to complement the surrounding architecture. We used seamless weld technology (SWT) to incorporate a sleek design surrounding to stand out against the new arena. Custom bracketry and finishing were used to enable maximum adjustability for the lighting requirements of the current lighting artist. Finally, bespoke modular bracket systems (Cubes) and Light Tubes for bespoke lighting allowed for even more customization.

Want to find out more about the impacts of the City of Culture program on Hull? Read this news article or this University of Hull publication outlining the program’s effects.

Interested in seeing more of the new Bonus Arena? View this video tour of the arena and its surroundings.