Burberry Floating Meadow

Positive Impact experiential agency PIE Factory were the primary client for this truly memorable project on behalf of Burberry.

Burberry had partnered with Historic Royal Palaces to support Superbloom, an immersive floral display which encircled the Tower of London in honour of The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. As a lead sponsor of the project, Burberry extended this initiative to the River Thames with their Floating Meadow.

With unrivalled experience in bringing the unique and wonderful to life on the River Thames, Livett’s were engaged by PIE Factory to make this eye-catching vision a reality. And given director Chris Livett’s role as Bargemaster to Her Majesty The Queen, it was a project we were only too happy to be involved in.

The Floating Meadow, designed, produced and project managed by PIE Factory, was made up of over 5,000 plants – many of which were indicative of English river ecosystems, including the riverbanks of the Thames – which spelled out the Burberry name in stunning flora.

The garden was installed on our multi-purpose flat top steel pontoon Sidney L before being towed up river by Thames Vixen for a stop-off at Butler’s Wharf Pier. This allowed members of the public to visit the educational and inspiring experience before it was fixed into place at Mark Brown’s Wharf, a stone’s throw from Tower Bridge.

This location made for some spectacular photography, whilst also drawing attention from countless thousands of tourists passing by.

Naturally the Floating Meadow required regular watering, so we laid on daily trips to the pontoon for the PIE Factory gardening team to give the display the love needed to stay vibrant.

Biodiversity and environmental awareness was at the heart of the project. The materials used to build the garden were responsibly sourced and included 1.4 tonnes of recycled plastic collected from rivers around the UK, which is the equivalent of 58,000 plastic bottles or 3.3 million plastic drinking straws. Every element was then either reused, repurposed, recycled or replanted – with all plants living on in local community projects after the installation closed.