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Riverside Building, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7PB
BUILDING BRITISH AIRWAYS LONDON EYE
THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT It has taken seven years and the expertise of hundreds of people from across Europe to turn the world's largest observation wheel and one of the UK's most spectacular attractions into a reality.

THE ORIGINATORS AND ARCHITECTS

British Airways London Eye was conceived and designed by David Marks and Julia Barfield Architects. The husband and wife team first attracted attention in 1989, the year the partnership was founded, when they won an engineering competition to design 'a Bridge of the Future'. The proposal was for an audacious single span across the Grand Canyon - based on the structural principle of the spine of a dinosaur. Later, in Europe, they designed an innovative multi-facetted project for the World Sea Centre in the Bay of Toulon, featuring the Aquasphere, and imaginative and dramatic aquarium in the sea. Recent projects include an award-winning water sports centre in Liverpool, built within Queen's Dock, an aviation museum completed earlier this year in Riyadh for the royal Saudi Air force, and, currently under construction, the environmental transformation of Stoke Newington Reservoir in north London for public use. David Marks and Julia Barfield are both directors of the British Airways London Eye Company Limited.

THE PROJECT MANAGERS

As one of the UK's leading project management companies, Mace is used to facing interesting construction challenges, although never one quite like British Airways London Eye. Established in London ten years ago, Mace now employs over five hundred people in four UK offices, and several overseas locations. The largest independent consultancy of its type, the organisation takes a holistic approach to projects, supporting clients right from inception to completion - and beyond. The company's primary disciplines of consultancy, project management and construction management are backed by a range of tailored services covering a spectrum of sectors, from hotels and leisure facilities to airports, museums and major civil engineering schemes. Just some of the high profile projects Mace has been involved with recently include British Airways corporate offices at Waterside, The British Museum Great Court project, the BFI Imax cinema in Waterloo and the complex £21million redevelopment and refurbishment of the Gatwick Airport South Terminal Lounge for BAA.