Celebrating 50 Years

In 2011, BDP celebrated its 50th anniversary. BDP Chairman Tony McGuirk announced the celebrations thus “BDP is celebrating its 50th year as the UK's leading interdisciplinary design practice. Founded in Preston by George Grenfell Baines in 1961, BDP's collective ethos has flourished into a firm with studios across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, India, China and Abu Dhabi. BDP proudly continues to follow the approach of 'Creating Sustainable Places for People' which spans all sectors of human activity.”

A celebratory exhibition at the RIBA, London opened on 24th May 2011 for a month, moving to the Cube Gallery, Manchester in October, and finally to Preston in November. The practice published a book entitled BDP. 61\11 Continuous Collective written by Hugh Pearman with contributions from Owen Hatherley and Lee Mallett. A film by director Camilla Robinson called 5 Cities, 5 Places, One Day was released, a blog, BDP Placebook asked for nominations for BDP’s favourite buildings, a timeline which follows key events within the practice over its first half century was launched, and a charity cycle ride in memory of Jo Yeates toured BDP studios. All these activities continued throughout the year to mark a very special birthday for BDP.